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Compact Lens-less Digital Holographic Microscope for MEMS Inspection and Characterization

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Monocular metasurface camera for passive single-shot 4D imaging.

Zicheng Shen¹, Feng Zhao¹, Chunqi Jin¹

¹State Key Laboratory of Precision Measurement Technology and Instruments, Department of Precision Instrument, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China.

Nature Communications

|February 23, 2023

Summary

A novel compact camera uses a single metalens to capture 4D light field information, including depth and polarization, in a single shot. This breakthrough enables advanced imaging without bulky optics or active illumination.

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Area of Science:

Optics and Photonics
Computational Imaging
Materials Science

Background:

Accurate perception of the physical world requires multi-dimensional light field information like depth and polarization.
Conventional imaging systems face challenges in simultaneously capturing this data due to bulky components and complex setups.

Purpose of the Study:

To demonstrate a compact, single-shot 4D imaging system capable of capturing intensity, depth, and polarization.
To overcome limitations of conventional multi-dimensional imaging techniques.

Main Methods:

Development of a compact monocular camera integrated with a single-layer metalens.
Optimization of the metalens to generate polarization-decoupled rotating single-helix point-spread functions dependent on object depth.
Implementation of a physically interpretable image retrieval algorithm.

Main Results:

Simultaneous capture of 2D all-in-focus intensity, depth, and polarization in a single shot under ambient light.
High-accuracy depth sensing and high-fidelity polarization imaging achieved over an extended depth of field.
Successful imaging of both static and dynamic scenes in diverse environments (indoor/outdoor).

Conclusions:

The demonstrated metalens-based camera offers a compact and efficient solution for multi-dimensional light field imaging.
This technology has the potential to significantly advance applications in machine vision, microscopy, and beyond.