An official website of the United States government
Abstract Multilevel diffractive lenses (MDLs) have emerged as an alternative to both conventional diffractive optical elements (DOEs) and metalenses for applications ranging from imaging to holographic and immersive displays. Recent work has shown that by harnessing structural parametric optimization of DOEs, one can design MDLs to enable multiple functionalities like achromaticity, depth of focus, wide-angle imaging, etc. with great ease in fabrication. Therefore, it becomes critical to understand how fabrication errors still do affect the performance of MDLs and numerically evaluate the trade-off between efficiency and initial parameter selection, right at the onset of designing an MDL, i.e., even before putting it into fabrication. Here, we perform a statistical simulation-based study on MDLs (primarily operating in the THz regime) to analyse the impact of various fabrication imperfections (single and multiple) on the final structure as a function of the number of ring height levels. Furthermore, we also evaluate the performance of these same MDLs with the change in the refractive index of the constitutive material. We use focusing efficiency as the evaluation criterion in our numerical analysis; since it is the most fundamental property that can be used to compare and assess the performance of lenses (and MDLs) in general designed for any application with any specific functionality.
more »
« less
Design, fabrication, and characterization of large metalenses
This work demonstrates the utility of a design, fabrication, and testing loop on 10 mm diameter metalenses to accelerate large-scale production of flat optics. By enabling rapid measurement and analysis of metalenses, it is possible to identify differences between designed performance and as-built performance quickly and correlate those to process characteristics. This accelerated feedback between the design, fabrication, and testing is expected to enable higher yields of better-performing metalenses.
more »
« less
- PAR ID:
- 10517977
- Editor(s):
- Fan, Jonathan A; Chang-Hasnain, Connie J; Zhou, Weimin
- Publisher / Repository:
- SPIE
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- SPIE
- ISBN:
- 9781510663664
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 25
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- San Francisco, United States
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
Abstract Femtosecond laser‐induced damage threshold (LIDT) testing is carried out at 515 nm on 4‐mm‐sized metalens arrays that are manufactured by direct nanoimprinting of a TiO2nanoparticle (NP)‐based ink containing either polymeric or inorganic binders. The all‐inorganic TiO2metalenses exhibit ≈80% absolute focusing efficiency and demonstrate an LIDT of ≈90 mJ cm−2based on a single‐shot determination using Liu's method, while the metalenses with the polymeric binder achieve ≈137 mJ cm−2and an efficiency of ≈76%. Despite the higher LIDT of the TiO2‐polymer composite metalenses in the single‐shot experiment, these lenses exhibit significant damage at fluences as low as ≈8 mJ cm−2when subjected to ≈6 × 10⁸ pulses at 60 kHz. On the other hand, the all‐inorganic metalenses remain intact under identical conditions at ≈64 mJ cm−2. That is, the inorganic binder provides superior long‐term stability relative to the polymeric binder and is a more viable solution for high‐energy applications. Structural damages observed in nanostructures result in a reduced deflection efficiency and increase light scattering at the focal plane of the metalens. The LIDT testing is also performed in the nanosecond regime at 532 and 1064 nm with the all‐inorganic metalenses, yielding thresholds of ≈0.5 and ≈5 J cm−2, respectively.more » « less
-
Optical levitation of dielectric particles in vacuum is a powerful technique for precision measurements, testing fundamental physics, and quantum information science. Conventional optical tweezers require bulky optical components for trapping and detection. Here, we design and fabricate an ultrathin dielectric metalens with a high numerical aperture of 0.88 at 1064 nm in vacuum. It consists of 500-nm-thick silicon nano-antennas, which are compatible with an ultrahigh vacuum. We demonstrate optical levitation of nanoparticles in vacuum with a single metalens. The trapping frequency can be tuned by changing the laser power and polarization. We also transfer a levitated nanoparticle between two separated optical tweezers. Optical levitation with an ultrathin metalens in vacuum provides opportunities for a wide range of applications including on-chip sensing. Such metalenses will also be useful for trapping ultracold atoms and molecules.more » « less
-
Metasurfaces have been studied and widely applied to optical systems. A metasurface-based flat lens (metalens) holds promise in wave-front engineering for multiple applications. The metalens has become a breakthrough technology for miniaturized optical system development, due to its outstanding characteristics, such as ultrathinness and cost-effectiveness. Compared to conventional macro- or meso-scale optics manufacturing methods, the micro-machining process for metalenses is relatively straightforward and more suitable for mass production. Due to their remarkable abilities and superior optical performance, metalenses in refractive or diffractive mode could potentially replace traditional optics. In this review, we give a brief overview of the most recent studies on metalenses and their applications with a specific focus on miniaturized optical imaging and sensing systems. We discuss approaches for overcoming technical challenges in the bio-optics field, including a large field of view (FOV), chromatic aberration, and high-resolution imaging.more » « less
-
Abstract Metalenses, with their ultrathin thicknesses and their ease for achieving ultra small diameters, offer a promising alternative to refractive lenses in miniaturized imaging systems, such as endoscopes, potentially enabling applications in tightly confined spaces. However, traditional metalenses suffer from strong chromatic aberrations, limiting their utility in multi-color imaging. To address this limitation, here we present an inverse-designed polychromatic metalens with a diameter of 680 μm, focal length of 400 μm, and low dispersion across 3 distinct wavelengths at 643 nm, 532 nm, and 444 nm. The metalens collimates and steers light emitted from a scanning fiber tip, generating scanning beams across a 70° field-of-view to provide illumination for a scan-based imaging. The metalens provides a close-to-diffraction-limited 0.5° angular resolution, only restricted by the effective aperture of the system. The average relative efficiency among three design wavelengths is around 32% for on-axis angle and 13% averaged across the entire field-of-view. This work holds promise for the application of metalenses in endoscopes and other miniaturized imaging systems.more » « less
