Inverse-designed large field-of-view polychromatic metalens for tri-color scanning fiber endoscopy
Abstract Metalenses, with their ultrathin thicknesses and their ease for achieving ultra small diameters, offer a promising alternative to refractive lenses in miniaturized imaging systems, such as endoscopes, potentially enabling applications in tightly confined spaces. However, traditional metalen...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Communications Engineering |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s44172-025-00377-7 |
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| author | Ningzhi Xie Zhihao Zhou Johannes E. Fröch Matthew D. Carson Arka Majumdar Eric J. Seibel Karl F. Böhringer |
| author_facet | Ningzhi Xie Zhihao Zhou Johannes E. Fröch Matthew D. Carson Arka Majumdar Eric J. Seibel Karl F. Böhringer |
| author_sort | Ningzhi Xie |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Metalenses, with their ultrathin thicknesses and their ease for achieving ultra small diameters, offer a promising alternative to refractive lenses in miniaturized imaging systems, such as endoscopes, potentially enabling applications in tightly confined spaces. However, traditional metalenses suffer from strong chromatic aberrations, limiting their utility in multi-color imaging. To address this limitation, here we present an inverse-designed polychromatic metalens with a diameter of 680 μm, focal length of 400 μm, and low dispersion across 3 distinct wavelengths at 643 nm, 532 nm, and 444 nm. The metalens collimates and steers light emitted from a scanning fiber tip, generating scanning beams across a 70° field-of-view to provide illumination for a scan-based imaging. The metalens provides a close-to-diffraction-limited 0.5° angular resolution, only restricted by the effective aperture of the system. The average relative efficiency among three design wavelengths is around 32% for on-axis angle and 13% averaged across the entire field-of-view. This work holds promise for the application of metalenses in endoscopes and other miniaturized imaging systems. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-0f7b44f8d3dc41588b8bdadf92d412ae |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2731-3395 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Communications Engineering |
| spelling | doaj-art-0f7b44f8d3dc41588b8bdadf92d412ae2025-08-20T02:52:17ZengNature PortfolioCommunications Engineering2731-33952025-03-014111010.1038/s44172-025-00377-7Inverse-designed large field-of-view polychromatic metalens for tri-color scanning fiber endoscopyNingzhi Xie0Zhihao Zhou1Johannes E. Fröch2Matthew D. Carson3Arka Majumdar4Eric J. Seibel5Karl F. Böhringer6Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of WashingtonDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of WashingtonDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of WashingtonHuman Photonics Lab, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of WashingtonDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of WashingtonHuman Photonics Lab, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of WashingtonDepartment of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of WashingtonAbstract Metalenses, with their ultrathin thicknesses and their ease for achieving ultra small diameters, offer a promising alternative to refractive lenses in miniaturized imaging systems, such as endoscopes, potentially enabling applications in tightly confined spaces. However, traditional metalenses suffer from strong chromatic aberrations, limiting their utility in multi-color imaging. To address this limitation, here we present an inverse-designed polychromatic metalens with a diameter of 680 μm, focal length of 400 μm, and low dispersion across 3 distinct wavelengths at 643 nm, 532 nm, and 444 nm. The metalens collimates and steers light emitted from a scanning fiber tip, generating scanning beams across a 70° field-of-view to provide illumination for a scan-based imaging. The metalens provides a close-to-diffraction-limited 0.5° angular resolution, only restricted by the effective aperture of the system. The average relative efficiency among three design wavelengths is around 32% for on-axis angle and 13% averaged across the entire field-of-view. This work holds promise for the application of metalenses in endoscopes and other miniaturized imaging systems.https://doi.org/10.1038/s44172-025-00377-7 |
| spellingShingle | Ningzhi Xie Zhihao Zhou Johannes E. Fröch Matthew D. Carson Arka Majumdar Eric J. Seibel Karl F. Böhringer Inverse-designed large field-of-view polychromatic metalens for tri-color scanning fiber endoscopy Communications Engineering |
| title | Inverse-designed large field-of-view polychromatic metalens for tri-color scanning fiber endoscopy |
| title_full | Inverse-designed large field-of-view polychromatic metalens for tri-color scanning fiber endoscopy |
| title_fullStr | Inverse-designed large field-of-view polychromatic metalens for tri-color scanning fiber endoscopy |
| title_full_unstemmed | Inverse-designed large field-of-view polychromatic metalens for tri-color scanning fiber endoscopy |
| title_short | Inverse-designed large field-of-view polychromatic metalens for tri-color scanning fiber endoscopy |
| title_sort | inverse designed large field of view polychromatic metalens for tri color scanning fiber endoscopy |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s44172-025-00377-7 |
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