Software-defined meta-optics
Software-defined meta-optics
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DOI：
10.1063/5.0164387
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发表时间：
2023-10
影响因子：
4
通讯作者：
Romil Audhkhasi;Johannes E. Fröch;A. Zhan;S. Colburn;A. Majumdar
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Romil Audhkhasi;Johannes E. Fröch;A. Zhan;S. Colburn;A. Majumdar
自主系统和物联网的快速发展需要开发紧凑、低功耗的图像传感器，以弥合数字世界和物理世界之间的差距。为此，亚波长衍射光学器件（通常称为元光学器件）由于其在小形状因子内实现多个功能的能力而引起了光学和光子学界的极大兴趣。然而，尽管经过多年的研究，与传统的折射光学相比，元光学的性能往往仍然较差。与此同时，计算成像技术已经成为一种有前途的途径来实现光学系统的数字化，尽管通常以更高的功率和延迟为代价。元光学或计算解决方案缺乏所需的性能，促使研究人员研究联合优化的元光学-数字解决方案。虽然元光学前端可以预处理场景以减少数字后端上的计算负载，但计算后端可以反过来放松对元光学的要求。在这个角度来看，我们提供了这个新兴领域的概述，在这里被称为“软件定义的元光学”。我们强调了最近的贡献，先进的最新技术水平，并指出未来的研究工作方向，应针对充分利用亚波长光子平台在成像和传感应用的潜力。元光学技术的协同技术转让和商业化将为未来的高效、紧凑和低功耗成像系统铺平道路。
Rapid advancements in autonomous systems and the Internet of Things have necessitated the development of compact and low-power image sensors to bridge the gap between the digital and physical world. To that end, sub-wavelength diffractive optics, commonly known as meta-optics, have garnered significant interest from the optics and photonics community due to their ability to achieve multiple functionalities within a small form factor. Despite years of research, however, the performance of meta-optics has often remained inferior compared to that of traditional refractive optics. In parallel, computational imaging techniques have emerged as a promising path to miniaturize optical systems, albeit often at the expense of higher power and latency. The lack of desired performance from either meta-optical or computational solutions has motivated researchers to look into a jointly optimized meta-optical–digital solution. While the meta-optical front end can preprocess the scene to reduce the computational load on the digital back end, the computational back end can in turn relax requirements on the meta-optics. In this Perspective, we provide an overview of this up-and-coming field, termed here as “software-defined meta-optics.” We highlight recent contributions that have advanced the current state of the art and point out directions toward which future research efforts should be directed to leverage the full potential of subwavelength photonic platforms in imaging and sensing applications. Synergistic technology transfer and commercialization of meta-optic technologies will pave the way for highly efficient, compact, and low-power imaging systems of the future.