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1. A Computational Design Framework for Efficient, Fabrication Error-Tolerant, Planar THz Diffractive Optical Elements

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-42243-5  

   Banerji, Sourangsu ; Sensale-Rodriguez, Berardi ( April 2019 , Scientific Reports)

   We demonstrate ultra-thin (1.5-3λ₀), fabrication-error tolerant efficient diffractive terahertz (THz) optical elements designed using a computer-aided optimization-based search algorithm. The basic operation of these components is modeled using scalar diffraction of electromagnetic waves through a pixelated multi-level 3D-printed polymer structure. Through the proposed design framework, we demonstrate the design of various ultrathin planar THz optical elements, namely (i) a high Numerical Aperture (N.A.), broadband aberration rectified spherical lens (0.1 THz–0.3 THz), (ii) a spectral splitter (0.3 THz–0.6 THz) and (iii) an on-axis broadband transmissive hologram (0.3 THz–0.5 THz). Such an all-dielectric computational design-based approach is advantageous against metallic or dielectric metasurfaces from the perspective that it incorporates all the inherent structural advantages associated with a scalar diffraction based approach, such as (i) ease of modeling, (ii) substrate-less facile manufacturing, (iii) planar geometry, (iv) high efficiency along with(v)broadband operation, (vi) area scalability and (vii) fabrication error-tolerance. With scalability and error tolerance being two major bottlenecks of previous design strategies. This work is therefore, a significant step towards the design of THz optical elements by bridging the gap between structural and computational design i.e. through a hybrid design-based approach enabling considerably less computational resources than the previous state of the art. Furthermore, the approach used herein can be expanded to a myriad of optical elements at any wavelength regime.

    

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2. Extreme-depth-of-focus imaging with a flat lens

   https://doi.org/10.1364/OPTICA.384164  

   Banerji, Sourangsu ; Meem, Monjurul ; Majumder, Apratim ; Sensale-Rodriguez, Berardi ; Menon, Rajesh ( March 2020 , Optica)

   A lens performs an approximately one-to-one mapping from the object to the image plane. This mapping in the image plane is maintained within a depth of field (or referred to as depth of focus, if the object is at infinity). This necessitates refocusing of the lens when the images are separated by distances larger than the depth of field. Such refocusing mechanisms can increase the cost, complexity, and weight of imaging systems. Here we show that by judicious design of a multi-level diffractive lens (MDL) it is possible to drastically enhance the depth of focus by over 4 orders of magnitude. Using such a lens, we are able to maintain focus for objects that are separated by as large a distance as$\sim <\#comment/>6\mathrm{m}$in our experiments. Specifically, when illuminated by collimated light at$\mathrm{\lambda <\#comment/>}=0.85\text{µ<\#comment/>}\mathrm{m}$, the MDL produced a beam, which remained in focus from 5 to 1200 mm. The measured full width at half-maximum of the focused beam varied from 6.6 µm (5 mm away from the MDL) to 524 µm (1200 mm away from the MDL). Since the side lobes were well suppressed and the main lobe was close to the diffraction limit, imaging with a horizontal × vertical field of view of${40}^{\circ <\#comment/>}\times <\#comment/>{30}^{\circ <\#comment/>}$over the entire focal range was possible. This demonstration opens up a new direction for lens design, where by treating the phase in the focal plane as a free parameter, extreme-depth-of-focus imaging becomes possible.

    

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3. Visible and near-infrared programmable multi-level diffractive lenses with phase change material Sb 2 S 3

   https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.452472  

   Jia, Wei ; Menon, Rajesh ; Sensale-Rodriguez, Berardi ( January 2022 , Optics Express)

   In this paper, we discuss flat programmable multi-level diffractive lenses (PMDL) enabled by phase change materials working in the near-infrared and visible ranges. The high real part refractive index contrast (Δn ∼ 0.6) of Sb 2 S 3 between amorphous and crystalline states, and extremely low losses in the near-infrared, enable the PMDL to effectively shift the lens focus when the phase of the material is altered between its crystalline and amorphous states. In the visible band, although losses can become significant as the wavelength is reduced, the lenses can still provide good performance as a result of their relatively small thickness (∼ 1.5λ to 3λ). The PMDL consists of Sb 2 S 3 concentric rings with equal width and varying heights embedded in a glass substrate. The height of each concentric ring was optimized by a modified direct binary search algorithm. The proposed designs show the possibility of realizing programmable lenses at design wavelengths from the near-infrared (850 nm) up to the blue (450 nm) through engineering PMDLs with Sb 2 S 3 . Operation at these short wavelengths, to the best of our knowledge, has not been studied so far in reconfigurable lenses with phase-change materials. Therefore, our results open a wider range of applications for phase-change materials, and show the prospect of Sb 2 S 3 for such applications. The proposed lenses are polarization insensitive and can have the potential to be applied in dual-functionality devices, optical imaging, and biomedical science. 

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4. Multifocal multilevel diffractive lens by wavelength multiplexing

   https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.497775  

   Jia, Wei ; Lin, Dajun ; Menon, Rajesh ; Sensale-Rodriguez, Berardi ( September 2023 , Applied Optics)

   Flat lenses with focal length tunability can enable the development of highly integrated imaging systems. This work explores machine learning to inverse design a multifocal multilevel diffractive lens (MMDL) by wavelength multiplexing. The MMDL output is multiplexed in three color channels, red (650 nm), green (550 nm), and blue (450 nm), to achieve varied focal lengths of 4 mm, 20 mm, and 40 mm at these three color channels, respectively. The focal lengths of the MMDL scale significantly with the wavelength in contrast to conventional diffractive lenses. The MMDL consists of concentric rings with equal widths and varied heights. The machine learning method is utilized to optimize the height of each concentric ring to obtain the desired phase distribution so as to achieve varied focal lengths multiplexed by wavelengths. The designed MMDL is fabricated through a direct-write laser lithography system with gray-scale exposure. The demonstrated singlet lens is miniature and polarization insensitive, and thus can potentially be applied in integrated optical imaging systems to achieve zooming functions.

    

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5. Design of infrared microspectrometer based on phase-modulated axilenses

   https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.390610  

   Chen, Yuyao ; Britton, Wesley A. ; Dal Negro, Luca ( June 2020 , Applied Optics)

   We design and characterize a novel axilens-based diffractive optics platform that flexibly combines efficient point focusing and grating selectivity and is compatible with scalable top-down fabrication based on a four-level phase mask configuration. This is achieved using phase-modulated compact axilens devices that simultaneously focus incident radiation of selected wavelengths at predefined locations with larger focal depths compared with traditional Fresnel lenses. In addition, the proposed devices are polarization-insensitive and maintain a large focusing efficiency over a broad spectral band. Specifically, here we discuss and characterize modulated axilens configurations designed for long-wavelength infrared (LWIR) in the 6 µm–12 µm wavelength range and in the 4 µm–6 µm midwavelength infrared (MWIR) range. These devices are ideally suited for monolithic integration atop the substrate layers of infrared focal plane arrays and for use as compact microspectrometers. We systematically study their focusing efficiency, spectral response, and cross-talk ratio; further, we demonstrate linear control of multiwavelength focusing on a single plane. Our design method leverages Rayleigh–Sommerfeld diffraction theory and is validated numerically using the finite element method. Finally, we demonstrate the application of spatially modulated axilenses to the realization of a compact, single-lens spectrometer. By optimizing our devices, we achieve a minimum distinguishable wavelength interval of$\mathrm{\Delta <\#comment/>}\mathrm{\lambda <\#comment/>}=240\mathrm{n}\mathrm{m}$at${\mathrm{\lambda <\#comment/>}}_c=8\text{µ<\#comment/>}\mathrm{m}$and$\mathrm{\Delta <\#comment/>}\mathrm{\lambda <\#comment/>}=165\mathrm{n}\mathrm{m}$at${\mathrm{\lambda <\#comment/>}}_c=5\text{µ<\#comment/>}\mathrm{m}$. The proposed devices add fundamental spectroscopic capabilities to compact imaging devices for a number of applications ranging from spectral sorting to LWIR and MWIR phase contrast imaging and detection.

    

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