Particle swarm optimization-driven tomographic metalens for controllable super-resolution focusing.

Area of Science:

• Photonics
• Computational Imaging
• Optical Metrology

Background:

• Traditional confocal microtomography suffers from complex setups, low integration, and poor stability.
• Limitations hinder advanced applications in high-resolution imaging and miniaturization.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an integrated tomographic focusing metalens solution.
• To overcome the limitations of conventional microtomography techniques.
• To achieve broadband, high-resolution spectral performance in visible wavelengths.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing a metalens with particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm for phase compensation.
• Implementing PSO for controllable focal length and tunable focal point separation.
• Simulating tomographic scanning depth, numerical aperture (NA), and full width at half-maximum (FWHM).

Main Results:

• Achieved a tomographic scanning depth of 12.65 µm within the 0.48-0.68 µm visible wavelength range.
• Demonstrated tunable focal length and precise control over focal point separation via PSO.
• Attained a maximum NA of 0.61, with FWHM near the diffraction limit, and ultra-high resolution at 0.60 µm.

Conclusions:

• The proposed metalens offers a stable, integrated solution for tomographic imaging.
• This technology enables controllable, broadband, high-resolution imaging with potential quantum effects.
• Presents a novel paradigm for miniaturized computational photonics in imaging.