Meta-grating-lens-based monolithic polarization camera

Area of Science:

• Optics and Photonics
• Metamaterials
• Imaging Science

Background:

• Conventional intensity imaging struggles with features invisible to the human eye.
• Metasurfaces offer compact polarization imaging but face challenges with limited field-of-view (FOV) and pixel resolution.
• Existing polarization imaging systems often lack efficiency and fine-grained polarization analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a monolithic polarization camera with an enhanced field-of-view and high-resolution polarization pixel capabilities.
• To demonstrate real-time full-Stokes polarization imaging in the near-infrared spectrum.
• To overcome the limitations of prior metasurface-based polarization imaging techniques.

Main Methods:

• Design and optimization of a meta-grating-lens (MGL) structure.
• Integration of MGL into a monolithic polarization camera system.
• Characterization of the camera's focusing efficiency, noise levels, and polarization analysis capabilities.

Main Results:

• Achieved a 14° field-of-view (FOV) for polarization imaging.
• Demonstrated real-time full-Stokes polarization imaging in the near-infrared region.
• The optimized MGL achieved >60% focusing efficiency with <3% zeroth-order noise, enabling simultaneous polarization analysis, beam-splitting, and imaging.

Conclusions:

• The meta-grating-lens camera provides a significant advancement in compact polarization imaging.
• The fine-grained pixel-level polarization analysis enables efficient light utilization and accurate polarization reconstruction.
• This technology holds potential for applications in autonomous navigation, biomedical diagnostics, and Muller matrix imaging.