Non-Interleaved Shared-Aperture Full-Stokes Metalens via Prior-Knowledge-Driven Inverse Design.

Area of Science:

• Optics and Photonics
• Materials Science
• Electromagnetics

Background:

• Characterizing electromagnetic wave polarization is crucial for materials science, biomedical applications, and imaging.
• Metasurfaces offer potential for integrated full-Stokes imagers, but current designs are bulky and complex.
• Existing metasurface imagers often use interleaved or cascaded designs, leading to performance issues and misalignment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a non-interleaved, shared-aperture full-Stokes metalens for high-accuracy imaging.
• To overcome limitations of existing metasurface-based imagers, such as bulkiness and performance deterioration.
• To demonstrate the metalens' application in W-band passive imaging and explore contactless surface slope measurements.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a prior-knowledge-driven inverse design methodology to create the full-Stokes metalens.
• Integrated the metalens into a W-band passive imaging system for polarimetric imaging.
• Employed a 3D reconstruction method to explore multi-polarization information for surface measurements.

Main Results:

• Developed a metalens capable of diffraction-limited full-Stokes imaging without ancillary components.
• Achieved high-accuracy polarimetric imaging in the W-band, reducing reliance on traditional radiometer components.
• Demonstrated the potential for contactless surface slope measurements using multi-polarization information.

Conclusions:

• The proposed non-interleaved metalens offers a compact and efficient solution for full-Stokes imaging.
• This technology simplifies polarimetric imaging systems and reduces costs compared to traditional methods.
• The work paves the way for new paradigms in full-Stokes imager design and expands metasurface polarimetric imaging applications.