
- Photonics Research
- Vol. 10, Issue 8, 1924 (2022)
Abstract
1. INTRODUCTION
Past decades have witnessed fast development and wide applications of optical super-resolution in bioscience. Fluorescent super-resolution techniques [1–3] and structured illumination microscopy [4–6] have achieved spatial resolution ranging from 100 nm down to several nanometers. However, there is an increasing demand in developing super-resolution without fluorescent labeling, which was believed forbidden by traditional optical theories. The resolution of conventional optical devices and systems is restricted to the Abbe diffraction limit of
Recent development in metasurfaces [30,31] has provided alternatives to realize diffractive lenses in more flexible ways through manipulation of amplitude [32], phase [33,34], polarization [35], and dispersion [36] at a sub-wavelength scale. Different approaches have been reported on realizing wide-angle metalenses. A 40°-wide-angle metalens with NA of 0.4 [37] has been demonstrated by optimizing the lens phase profile and an aperture stop; a doublet with NA of 0.44 has achieved 50°-wide-angle performance [38]; a doublet with NA of 0.49 has also been demonstrated for a wide angle of 60° [39]; using a quadratic metalens, wide-angle operation as large as 80° and a high NA of 0.89 have been achieved [40]. However, the resolution of all reported wide-angle metalenses is restricted by the fundamental Abbe diffraction limit. Recently, a few trials have been conducted to achieve flat-field operation in the super-resolution regime. A super-resolution singlet metalens [41] has been proved effective for obliquely incident light. The lens has a radius of
To date, no attempt has been made to achieve flat-field focusing in the superoscillation regime with a comparatively large field of view. In the present work, utilizing geometric phase metasurfaces, a high-NA dielectric singlet metalens with an entrance aperture stop has been demonstrated for superoscillation focusing within a field of view of 9° at a wavelength of
Sign up for Photonics Research TOC. Get the latest issue of Photonics Research delivered right to you!Sign up now
2. PRINCIPLE AND DESIGN
Figure 1(a) schematically illustrates the focusing by the flat-field superoscillation metalens, and Fig. 1(b) shows the a-Si cubic geometric-phase meta-atom [43,44] for wavefront manipulation of the metalens. The metalens is composed of a metasurface behaving as a superoscillation focusing lens and an optical aperture stop aiming to further reduce the off-axis aberration, which are integrated on two sides of a
Figure 1.Flat-field superoscillation metalens. (a) Schematic illustration of focusing of off-axis light by a flat-field superoscillation metalens. (b) Schematic illustration of the a-Si dielectric meta-atom for geometric-phase manipulation in the metalens.
Compared with a previously reported super-resolution singlet metalens [41], the present superoscillation lens is designed with the same basic parameters, i.e., lens radius and focal length. For a given thickness of the
Figure 2.Results of the optimized flat-field superoscillation metalens. (a) Phase profile of the lens
Figure 2(b) presents the focusing performance parameters, i.e., intensity, focal spot size, and sidelobe ratio, at different incident angles. The theoretical results of previously reported wide-angle super-oscillatory doublets [42] show a fast increase in spot size in the incident plane as the incident angle increases. However, in the present work, it is clearly seen that the intensity (red) varies between 190 and 260, and the spot size (blue) has a very small fluctuation between
3. LENS FABRICATION
A 175-μm-thick
Figure 3.(a) Diagram of the superoscillation focusing metalens arrangement in square lattice array, where inset gives the arrangement of the meta-atoms located at the device center. (b) SEM picture of the central part of the fabricated flat-field superoscillation metalens.
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
We characterized the fabricated flat-field superoscillation metalens by illuminating it with a collimated
The focal spots of the flat-field superoscillation metalens were measured with linearly polarized incident light and are shown along with simulation results in Figs. 4(a)–4(h) for different incident angles of 0°, 0.5°, 1.0°, 1.5°, 2.0°, 2.5°, 3.0°, 3.5°, 4.0°, and 4.5°. The incident plane is the
Figure 4.Focusing performance of the flat-field superoscillation metalens. (a), (e) Simulation results of the optical intensity profile on the designed focal plane for different incident angles of 0°, 0.5°, 1.0°, 1.5°, 2.0°, 2.5°, 3.0°, 3.5°, 4.0°, and 4.5°; (b), (f) intensity distribution curves in
Figure 5 presents the numerical and experimental results of intensity distribution and major focusing parameters, including peak intensity, spot size, and sidelobe ratio, on the
Figure 5.Optical propagation properties on the incident plane (
Figure 6 presents the Poynting vector on the incident plane (
Figure 6.Poynting vector on the incident plane (
In the present design, the focusing efficiency is only approximately 1%. The low efficiency is due to three reasons. First, when the spot size decreases beyond the diffraction limit, the focusing efficiency usually drops sharply as the spot size decreases, especially when the spot size gets into the superoscillation regime. Second, there is only one functional phase surface in the present lens; the comparative large field of view is realized majorly by the aperture stop, which greatly limits the put-through of the entire incident light. Finally, the design of flat-field super-oscillatory lens is time communing, which makes it difficult to find the best optimal result in the design. The low efficiency may place a restriction on many practical applications. However, in certain cases, where the increase in resolution is priority, the low efficiency is not a big obstacle, such as in super-resolution microscopy demonstrated in label-free super-resolution microscopy based on super-resolution lenses [14,15].
5. CONCLUSION
In conclusion, we have demonstrated a dielectric metalens consisting of a-Si cubic geometric-phase meta-atoms and an optical aperture stop integrated on two sides of a 175-μm-thick
Acknowledgment
Acknowledgment. The authors extend sincere thanks to Prof. Ting Jiang and Prof. Yuanpeng Zou at the School of Foreign Languages and Cultures, Chongqing University, for their assistance in language polishing.
References
[1] M. J. Rust, M. Bates, X. Zhuang. Sub-diffraction-limit imaging by stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy (STORM). Nat. Methods, 3, 793-796(2006).
[2] E. Betzig, G. H. Patterson, R. Sougrat, O. W. Lindwasser, S. Olenych, J. S. Bonifacino, M. W. Davidson, J. L. Schwartz, H. F. Hess. Imaging intracellular fluorescent proteins at nanometer resolution. Science, 313, 1642-1645(2006).
[3] S. T. Hess, T. P. K. Girirajan, M. D. Mason. Ultra-high resolution imaging by fluorescence photoactivation localization microscopy. Biophys. J., 91, 4258-4572(2006).
[4] F. Wei, Z. Liu. Plasmonic structured illumination microscopy. Nano Lett., 10, 2531-2536(2010).
[5] X. Liu, C. Kuang, X. Hao, C. Pang, P. Xu, H. Li, Y. Liu, C. Yu, Y. Xu, D. Nan, W. Shen, Y. Fang, L. He, X. Liu, Q. Yang. Fluorescent nanowire ring illumination for wide-field far-field subdiffraction imaging. Phys. Rev. Lett., 118, 076101(2017).
[6] M. G. L. Gustafsson. Nonlinear structured-illumination microscopy: wide-field fluorescence imaging with theoretically unlimited resolution. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 102, 13081-13086(2005).
[7] E. Abbe. Beiträge zur Theorie des Mikroskops und der mikroskopischen Wahrnehmung. Archiv für Mikroskopische Anatomie, 9, 413-468(1873).
[8] M. V. Berry. Evanescent and real waves in quantum billiards and Gaussian beams. J. Phys. A, 27, L391-L398(1994).
[9] M. V. Berry, S. Popescu. Evolution of quantum superoscillations and optical superresolution without evanescent waves. J. Phys. A, 39, 6965-6977(2006).
[10] M. Berry, N. Zheludev, Y. Aharonov, F. Colombo, I. Sabadini, D. C. Struppa, J. Tollaksen, E. T. F. Rogers, F. Qin, M. Hong, X. Luo, R. Remez, A. Arie, J. B. Götte, M. R. Dennis, A. M. Wong, G. V. Eleftheriades, Y. Eliezer, A. Bahabad, G. Chen, Z. Wen, G. Liang, C. Hao, C. Qiu, A. Kempf, E. Katzav, M. Schwartz. Roadmap on superoscillations. J. Opt., 21, 053002(2019).
[11] G. Chen, Z. Wen, C. Qiu. Superoscillation: from physics to optical applications. Light Sci. Appl., 8, 56(2019).
[12] F. M. Huang, N. I. Zheludev. Super-resolution without evanescent waves. Nano Lett., 9, 1249-1254(2009).
[13] K. Huang, H. Ye, J. Teng, S. P. Yeo, B. Luk’yanchuk, C. W. Qiu. Optimization-free superoscillatory lens using phase and amplitude masks. Laser Photon. Rev., 8, 152-157(2014).
[14] E. T. F. Rogers, J. Lindberg, T. Roy, S. Savo, J. E. Chad, M. R. Dennis, N. I. Zheludev. A super-oscillatory lens optical microscope for subwavelength imaging. Nat. Mater., 11, 432-435(2012).
[15] F. Qin, K. Huang, J. F. Wu, J. H. Teng, C. W. Qiu, M. H. Hong. A supercritical lens optical label-free microscopy: sub-diffraction resolution and ultra-long working distance. Adv. Mater., 29, 1602721(2017).
[16] G. Chen, K. Zhang, A. Yu, X. Wang, Z. Zhang, Y. Li, Z. Wen, L. Chen, L. Dai, S. Jiang, F. Lin. Far-field sub-diffraction focusing lens based on binary amplitude-phase mask for linearly polarized light. Opt. Express, 24, 11002-11008(2016).
[17] G. Chen, Y. Li, X. Wang, Z. Wen, F. Lin, L. Dai, L. Chen, Y. He, S. Liu. Super-oscillation far-field focusing lens based on ultra-thin width-varied metallic slit array. IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett., 28, 335-338(2016).
[18] G. Chen, Y. Li, A. Yu, Z. Wen, L. Dai, L. Chen, Z. Zhang, S. Jiang, K. Zhang, X. Wang, F. Lin. Super-oscillatory focusing of circularly polarized light by ultra-long focal length planar lens based on binary amplitude-phase modulation. Sci. Rep., 6, 29068(2016).
[19] G. Yuan, K. Rogers, E. T. F. Rogers, N. I. Zheludev. Far-field superoscillatory metamaterial superlens. Phys. Rev. Appl., 11, 064016(2019).
[20] Y. W. Hu, S. W. Wang, J. H. Jia, S. H. Fu, H. Yin, Z. Li, Z. Q. Chen. Optical superoscillatory waves without side lobes along a symmetric cut. Adv. Photon., 3, 045002(2021).
[21] E. T. F. Rogers, S. Savo, J. Lindberg, T. Roy, M. R. Dennis, N. I. Zheludev. Super-oscillatory optical needle. Appl. Phys. Lett., 102, 031108(2013).
[22] G. Yuan, E. T. F. Rogers, T. Roy, G. Adamo, Z. Shen, N. I. Zheludev. Planar super-oscillatory lens for sub-diffraction optical needles at violet wavelengths. Sci. Rep., 4, 6333(2014).
[23] A. P. Yu, G. Chen, Z. H. Zhang, Z. Q. Wen, L. R. Dai, K. Zhang, S. L. Jiang, Z. X. Wu, Y. Y. Li, C. T. Wang, X. G. Luo. Creation of sub-diffraction longitudinally polarized spot by focusing radially polarized light with binary phase lens. Sci. Rep., 6, 38859(2016).
[24] G. Chen, Z. Wu, A. Yu, Z. Zhang, Z. Wen, K. Zhang, L. Dai, S. Jiang, Y. Li, L. Chen, C. Wang, X. Luo. Generation of a sub-diffraction hollow ring by shaping an azimuthally polarized wave. Sci. Rep., 6, 37776(2016).
[25] Z. Wu, Q. Jin, K. Zhang, Z. Zhang, G. Liang, Z. Wen, A. Yu, G. Chen. Binary-amplitude modulation based super-oscillatory focusing planar lens for azimuthally polarized wave. Opto-Electron. Eng., 45, 170660(2018).
[26] S. Zhang, H. Chen, Z. Wu, K. Zhang, Y. Li, G. Chen, Z. Zhang, Z. Wen, L. Dai, L. Wang. Synthesis of sub-diffraction quasi-non-diffracting beams by angular spectrum compression. Opt. Express, 25, 27104-27118(2017).
[27] Z. Wu, K. Zhang, S. Zhang, Q. Jin, Z. Wen, L. Wang, L. Dai, Z. Zhang, H. Chen, G. Liang, Y. Liu, G. Chen. Optimization-free approach for generating sub-diffraction quasi-non-diffracting beams. Opt. Express, 26, 16585-16599(2018).
[28] Z. Wu, Q. Jin, S. Zhang, K. Zhang, L. Wang, L. Dai, Z. Zhang, Z. Wen, G. Liang, Y. Liu, G. Chen. Generating a three-dimensional hollow spot with sub-diffraction transverse size by a focused cylindrical vector wave. Opt. Express, 26, 7866-7875(2018).
[29] R. Zuo, W. Liu, H. Cheng, S. Chen, J. Tian. Breaking the diffraction limit with radially polarized light based on dielectric metalenses. Adv. Opt. Mater., 6, 1800795(2018).
[30] Q. He, S. Sun, S. Xiao, L. Zhou. High-efficiency metasurfaces: principles, realizations, and applications. Adv. Opt. Mater., 6, 1800415(2018).
[31] S. Chen, Y. Zhang, Z. Li, H. Cheng, J. Tian. Empowered layer effects and prominent properties in few-layer metasurfaces. Adv. Opt. Mater., 7, 1801477(2019).
[32] Y. B. Zhang, H. Liu, H. Cheng, J. G. Tian, S. Q. Chen. Multidimensional manipulation of wave fields based on artificial microstructures. Opto-Electron Adv., 3, 200002(2020).
[33] X. G. Luo. Subwavelength optical engineering with metasurface waves. Adv. Opt. Mater., 6, 1701201(2018).
[34] Q. Fan, W. Xu, X. Hu, W. Zhu, T. Yue, C. Zhang, F. Yan, L. Chen, H. J. Lezec, Y. Lu, A. Agrawal, T. Xu. Trilobite-inspired neural nanophotonic light-field camera with extreme depth-of-field. Nat. Commun., 13, 2130(2022).
[35] Y. Hu, X. Wang, X. Luo, X. Ou, L. Li, Y. Chen, P. Yang, S. Wang, H. Duan. All-dielectric metasurfaces for polarization manipulation: principles and emerging applications. Nanophotonics, 9, 3755-3780(2020).
[36] Y. Wang, Q. Fan, T. Xu. Design of high efficiency achromatic metalens with large operation bandwidth using bilayer architecture. Opto-Electron. Adv., 4, 200008(2021).
[37] A. Kalvach, Z. Szabó. Aberration-free flat lens design for a wide range of incident angles. J. Opt. Soc. Am. B, 33, A66-A71(2016).
[38] B. Groever, W. T. Chen, F. Capasso. Meta-lens doublet in the visible region. Nano Lett., 17, 4902-4907(2017).
[39] A. Arbabi, E. Arbabi, S. M. Kamali, Y. Horie, S. Han, A. Faraon. Miniature optical planar camera based on a wide-angle metasurface doublet corrected for monochromatic aberrations. Nat. Commun., 7, 13682(2016).
[40] M. B. Pu, X. Li, Y. H. Guo, X. L. Ma, X. G. Luo. Nanoapertures with ordered rotations: symmetry transformation and wide-angle flat lensing. Opt. Express, 25, 31471-31477(2017).
[41] Q. Zhang, F. Dong, H. Li, Z. Wang, G. Liang, Z. Zhang, Z. Wen, G. Chen, L. Dai, W. Chu. High-numerical-aperture dielectric metalens for super-resolution focusing of oblique incident light. Adv. Opt. Mater., 8, 1901885(2020).
[42] Z. Li, C. Wang, Y. Wang, X. Lu, Y. Guo, X. Li, X. Ma, M. Pu, X. G. Luo. Super-oscillatory metasurface doublet for sub-diffraction focusing with a large incident angle. Opt. Express, 29, 9991-9999(2021).
[43] S. Pancharatnam. Generalized theory of interference and its applications. Proc. Indian Acad. Sci. Sect. A, 44, 398-417(1956).
[44] M. V. Berry. The adiabatic phase and Pancharatnam’s phase for polarized light. J. Mod. Opt., 34, 1401-1407(1987).
[45] N. Jin, Y. Rahmat-Samii. Advances in particle swarm optimization for antenna designs: real-number, binary, single-objective and multiobjective implementations. IEEE Trans. Anntenas Propag., 55, 556-567(2007).
[46] L. Novotny, B. Hecht. Principles of Nano-Optics(2006).

Set citation alerts for the article
Please enter your email address