Two-photon microscopy is a key imaging technique in biological sciences because of its superior deep tissue imaging capabilities in addition to high transverse and axial resolution. In recent years, development of low-weight miniature two-photon microscopes has been of great interest for in vivo imaging of brain activity. Limited by these mechanical constraints, most of the developed miniature two-photon microscopes utilize graded index objective lenses that usually have inferior optical characteristics compared to conventional refractive objective lenses.
Dielectric metasurfaces, a recent category of diffractive optical elements with enhanced capabilities, have proven versatile in various applications ranging from lensing to holography and polarization control. Their ultrathin form factor and potentially extremely low-weight make them very attractive for applications with stringent size and weight constraints. However, despite their success in various types of microscopy and imaging applications, they have not been previously utilized for multi-photon fluorescence microscopy. The main barrier for using metasurface lenses in multi-photon microscopy arises from their large chromatic dispersion that effectively makes them single-wavelength. Here we will present a double-wavelength metasurface lens especially designed to have the same focal length at 820 and 605 nm, corresponding to the excitation and emission wavelengths of a certain fluorophore. After characterizing the poly-silicon metasurface lens at both wavelengths, we used it in a two-photon microscopy setup and demonstrated its capability to capture two-photon images qualitatively similar to images taken with a conventional objective lens. We will also discuss the effects of chromatic dispersion of the metasurface lens on its two-photon imaging performance.
Miniaturized optical systems with planar form factors and low power consumption have many applications in wearable and mobile electronics, health monitoring devices, and as integral parts of medical and industrial equipment. Flat optical devices based on dielectric metasurfaces introduce a new approach for realization of such systems at low cost using conventional nanofabrication techniques. In this talk, I will present a summary of our recent work on dielectric metasurfaces that enable precise control of both polarization and phase with large transmission and high spatial resolution. Optical metasurface components such as high numerical aperture lenses, efficient wave plates, components with novel functionalities, and their potential applications will be discussed. I will also present the results of our efforts on optimizing and increasing the diffraction efficiency of metasurfaces. Furthermore, by using metasurface cameras and planar retroreflectors as examples, I will discuss a vertical on-chip integration platform that introduces a new architecture for the on-chip integration of conventional and novel optical systems and enables their low-cost manufacturing.
KEYWORDS: Spatial resolution, Current controlled current source, Collimators, Retroreflectors, Diffractive optical elements, Diffraction gratings, Diffraction, Optical components, Polarization, Control systems
Metasurfaces are two-dimensional arrangements of nano-scatterers that enable control of phase, amplitude, and polarization of light with high efficiency and subwavelength resolution. They have enabled diffractive optical elements with enhanced functionalities and performance. Nevertheless, metasurface diffractive optical elements share many of the properties of regular diffractive optical elements. One of these properties is the response of diffractive elements to changing the angle of illumination: if the beam incident on a grating is rotated by an angle, all diffraction orders will rotate by corresponding angles in the same direction. More precisely, because of the constant grating momentum, the change in the sine of all diffraction angles will be equal to the change in the sine of the illumination angle.
Many optical devices of interest, however, do not require this type of behavior, which makes their implementation using metasurfaces very challenging. For instance retroreflectors, which reflect light incident from any angle to the same direction, or collimators, that deflect light coming from any angle to a single given direction, do not follow the regular diffractive optics angular response. We investigate properties of single-layer metasurfaces that enable devices like retroreflectors and collimators. We show that such metasurfaces should have the ability to control the phase, as well as the derivative of phase with respect to angle. We demonstrate designs that provide such control, and use them to show devices that defy the regular response of diffractive optical devices to changes in the illumination angle.
Diffractive optical devices have many applications in various fields of optics. A fundamental property of all diffractive devices is their negative chromatic dispersion: a diffractive grating always disperses light in the opposite order compared to a refractive prism made of a material with positive (normal) dispersion. Unlike refractive devices, chromatic dispersion in diffractive devices stems from geometrical features, and cannot be controlled via the intrinsic material dispersion. In addition to the always negative sign, the amplitude of diffractive chromatic dispersion is set only by the function of the device. For instance, the angular dispersion of a grating is always given by dθ/dλ=tan(θ)/λ (where θ is the deflection angle and λ is wavelength), or the focal distance dispersion of a diffractive lens is given by df/dλ=-f/λ. Therefore, the chromatic dispersion of diffractive devices has always been set by their function (e.g. by the deflection angle for a grating or the focal distance for a lens), and could not be controlled separately. Here, we present our work on breaking this fundamental relation between the function and chromatic dispersion of diffractive devices using metasurfaces providing independent control over phase and group delays. We use a reflective dielectric metasurface to experimentally demonstrate gratings and lenses that have positive, zero, and extraordinary negative chromatic dispersion. Apart from its fundamental scientific value, this concept expands the applications of diffractive devices as it enables various types of chromatic dispersions. For instance, a special case would be a dispersionless lens operating over a wide bandwidth with the same focal distance.
Diffractive optical devices based on dielectric metasurfaces have recently attracted significant attention. Small size, low weight, planar form factor, and potential for low-cost manufacturing using semiconductor fabrication techniques are some of the main features that make metasurfaces ideal candidates for implementation of low-cost miniaturized optical systems. However, to become competitive for practical applications, metasurfaces should also offer specifications (e.g. efficiency, bandwidth, and wavefront error) comparable to their refractive counterparts. We have recently demonstrated diffraction-limited metasurface lenses with high efficiency using high refractive index nano-posts. Low numerical aperture (NA) metasurface lenses have more than 90% focusing efficiency, but the efficiency of the lenses with NA>0.5 decreases with increasing NA and drops to ~40% for NA=0.9, thus resulting in a trade-off between the NA and efficiency. Here we identify the main physical origin of this trade-off as the low transmission of large diameter nano-posts for transverse-magnetic (TM) polarized light incident at large angles, and show that the low transmission is caused by the excitation of undesired high order modes in these nano-posts. To overcome this issues, we present a novel approach for evaluating different metasurface designs in implementation of high NA metasurface components. The approach is based on adiabatic approximation of aperiodic metasurfaces by periodic gratings, and considers the effect of large deflection angles. Using the proposed design approach, we experimentally demonstrate more than 75% focusing efficiency for metasurface lenses with NA=0.7, and more than 70% deflection efficiency for 50-degree beam deflectors for unpolarized light at 915 nm.
Miniaturized optical systems with planar form factors and low power consumption have many applications in wearable and mobile electronics, health monitoring devices, and as integral parts of medical and industrial equipment. Flat optical devices based on dielectric metasurfaces introduce a new approach for realization of such systems at low cost using conventional nanofabrication techniques. In this talk, I will present a summary of our recent work on dielectric metasurfaces that enable precise control of both polarization and phase with large transmission and high spatial resolution. Optical metasurface components such as high numerical aperture lenses, efficient wave plates, components with novel functionalities, and their potential applications will be discussed. I will also present the results of our efforts on developing multi-wavelength and dispersion engineered metasurfaces, as well as conformal, flexible, and tunable metasurfaces. Furthermore, by using metasurface cameras and planar retroreflectors as examples, I will introduce a vertical on-chip integration platform enabled by vertical stacking of multiple metasurfaces and active optoelectronic components. This vertical integration scheme introduces a new architecture for the on-chip integration of conventional and novel optical systems and enables their low-cost manufacturing.
We propose a broadband free-space on-chip spectrometer based on an array of integrated narrowband filters consisting of Fabry-Perot resonators formed by two high-contrast grating (HCG) based reflectors separated by a low-index thin layer with a fixed cavity thickness. Using numerical simulations, broadband tunability of resonance wavelengths was achieved only by changing the in-plane grating parameters such as period or duty cycle of HCGs while the substrate geometry was kept fixed. Experimentally, the HCG reflectors were fabricated on silicon on insulator (SOI) substrates and high reflectivity was measured, fabrication process for the proposed double HCG-based narrowband filter array was developed. The filtering function that can be spanned over a wide range of wavelengths was measured.
We report efficient wave plates with different retardations and orientations of fast axes realized using transmitarrays
composed of a periodic arrangement of amorphous silicon elliptical cylinders on glass. We show that novel polarization
devices which locally rotate the polarization by different angles while preserving the wavefront can be demonstrated
using such a high contrast transmitarray. We present design, fabrication and experimental characterization results for
near infrared transmissive wave retarders with efficiencies in excess of 90%, and discuss the potential applications of atwill
local polarization control enabled by this technology.
We present design, fabrication, and characterization results of high numerical aperture (NA) micro-lenses based on a
high contrast transmitarray platform. The high contrast transmitarray is created by periodic arrangement of amorphous
silicon posts with different diameters on a fused silica substrate. We report near infrared high NA micro-lenses with spot
sizes as small as 0.57λ and focusing efficiencies in excess of 80%. We demonstrate a trade-off relation between NA and
efficiency of high contrast array flat micro-lenses, and attribute it to the spatial discretization of their phase profiles.
We present reflective phase shifters based on high contrast gratings resting on a low-index spacer backed by a metallic mirror. The guided resonance of the grating combined with the reflection from the metallic mirror leads to an all-pass filter with 2π phase shift variation and unity reflectivity across the resonance. We present simulations, fabrication and measurement of passive devices fabricated in silicon over gold using a polymer as the spacer layer. Active control at high modulation speeds can be achieved by shifting the guided resonance wavelength using carrier injection or thermo-optic effect in silicon.
Access to the requested content is limited to institutions that have purchased or subscribe to SPIE eBooks.
You are receiving this notice because your organization may not have SPIE eBooks access.*
*Shibboleth/Open Athens users─please
sign in
to access your institution's subscriptions.
To obtain this item, you may purchase the complete book in print or electronic format on
SPIE.org.
INSTITUTIONAL Select your institution to access the SPIE Digital Library.
PERSONAL Sign in with your SPIE account to access your personal subscriptions or to use specific features such as save to my library, sign up for alerts, save searches, etc.