Testbed for extreme meta-optics at mid-wave infrared wavelengths
Abstract
We propose to acquire a mid-wave infrared laser and camera to characterize large-aperture meta-optics. Extremely large aperture optics are essential for various applications, including remote sensing, satellite-based optical communication, and gigapixel imaging. Such large optics are generally very heavy. For example, the weight of the lenses in the Hubble telescope (aperture of 2 m) is on the order of 10,000 kg. The emerging field of meta-optics, where quasi-periodic arrays of sub-wavelength scatterers are engineered to manipulate wavefronts, can drastically reduce the size and weight of these elements. For example, the weight of a meta-optics for a lens with the same aperture as the Hubble telescope will be less than 1kg! Unfortunately, images captured using meta-optics are far inferior to the state-of-the-art. This is primarily due to the strong chromatic and geometric aberrations coming from the meta-optics. By using a computational backend and co-optimizing the meta-optics along with the software backend, many of these aberrations canbe removed. Such computational backend also enables extremely large aperture meta-optics, that operate based on the principle of synthetic aperture: an array of meta-optics is used to capture sub-images, which are computationally combined to create a large image.We have developed several computational tools to design these meta-optics and co-optimize the meta-optics and computational backend. We also have optimized our fabrication process to create all-silicon large-area meta-optics. However, the computational reconstruction methods require very accurate characterization of the point spread function and modulation transfer functions of the meta-optics. We aim to measure these using the proposed testbed of mid-wave infrared laser and camera. This testbed will allow us to perform high resolution imaging, and possibly perform optical information processing directly on the scene. The ability of the mid-wave infrared light to propagate through turbid medium, such as fog, sandstorm, or cloud, will make these imaging systems critical for autonomous navigation or surveillance.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Feb 06, 2023
- Source ID
- N000142312254
Entities
People
- Arka Majumdar
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of Washington