Nature Communications (Feb 2024)

Broadband thermal imaging using meta-optics

  • Luocheng Huang,
  • Zheyi Han,
  • Anna Wirth-Singh,
  • Vishwanath Saragadam,
  • Saswata Mukherjee,
  • Johannes E. Fröch,
  • Quentin A. A. Tanguy,
  • Joshua Rollag,
  • Ricky Gibson,
  • Joshua R. Hendrickson,
  • Philip W. C. Hon,
  • Orrin Kigner,
  • Zachary Coppens,
  • Karl F. Böhringer,
  • Ashok Veeraraghavan,
  • Arka Majumdar

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-45904-w
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 15, no. 1
pp. 1 – 8

Abstract

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Abstract Subwavelength diffractive optics known as meta-optics have demonstrated the potential to significantly miniaturize imaging systems. However, despite impressive demonstrations, most meta-optical imaging systems suffer from strong chromatic aberrations, limiting their utilities. Here, we employ inverse-design to create broadband meta-optics operating in the long-wave infrared (LWIR) regime (8-12 μm). Via a deep-learning assisted multi-scale differentiable framework that links meta-atoms to the phase, we maximize the wavelength-averaged volume under the modulation transfer function (MTF) surface of the meta-optics. Our design framework merges local phase-engineering via meta-atoms and global engineering of the scatterer within a single pipeline. We corroborate our design by fabricating and experimentally characterizing all-silicon LWIR meta-optics. Our engineered meta-optic is complemented by a simple computational backend that dramatically improves the quality of the captured image. We experimentally demonstrate a six-fold improvement of the wavelength-averaged Strehl ratio over the traditional hyperboloid metalens for broadband imaging.