Near-IR wide-field-of-view Huygens metalens for outdoor imaging applications

Abstract

The ongoing effort to implement compact and cheap optical systems is the main driving force for the recent flourishing research in the field of optical metalenses. Metalenses are a type of metasurface, used for focusing and imaging applications, and are implemented based on the nanopatterning of an optical surface. The challenge faced by metalens research is to reach high levels of performance using simple fabrication methods suitable for mass production. In this paper, we present a Huygens nanoantenna-based metalens, designed for outdoor photographic/surveillance applications in the near infrared. We show that good imaging quality can be obtained over a field of view as large as ±15°. This first successful implementation of metalenses for outdoor imaging applications is expected to provide insight and inspiration for future metalens imaging applications.

Metalens-integrated compact imaging devices for wide-field microscopy

“…There have been several works dedicated to image aberration correction with singlet or doublet metalenses to enlarge the imaging FOV. 26,27,35 However, an increase of the metalens size to a macroscopic size in the single axis imaging scheme will inevitably increase the working distance, which definitely weakens the ultrathin and ultralight advantages of metalenses. We prefer the MIID to work in a short-working distance in an enlarged FOV, to keep the advantage of compact integration as it is mounted to the CMOS image sensor.…”

Meta‐Imaging: from Non‐Computational to Computational

“…In addition to imaging in laboratory, a wide FoV metalens was reported recently to perform outdoor imaging. [ 76 ] As shown in Figure 7c, the metalens is integrated into a commercial camera and used to capture the outdoor scene under natural sunlight instead of illumination in a laboratory.…”

Design for quality: reconfigurable flat optics based on active metasurfaces

“…The promise of metasurface optics lies in the arbitrary control of electromagnetic waves with an optically thin form factor that cannot be obtained by traditional bulk optics. Passive metasurfaces have successfully demonstrated important spherical, chromatic, and angle-dependent aberration correction capabilities [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. Integrated with active components, the flat, pixelated metasurface architecture further facilitates the local and global tuning of their optical responses.…”