Application of a space compressing optic to sensors, Phase 1

所有的光学设备，从普通的（如照相机和望远镜）到最前沿的（如生物识别扫描仪或基于激光雷达的距离探测器），都包含一些透镜和传感器的组合。为了让镜头在所有这些应用中发挥作用，它们需要一个区域的空白空间，让光线传播并形成图像。不幸的是，这个区域的空间足够大，可以显著增加这些设备的总尺寸，从而使它们无法集成到移动设备中。我们的团队开发了一种新的光学元件，叫做空间板，可以添加到透镜系统中，以压缩这些空区域的大小。到目前为止，我们设计的概念验证空间板具有令人印象深刻的压缩系数超过300。例如，具有这种压缩系数的空间板将把2.5毫米的空间压缩到只有7.5微米厚的板中。此外，这些最初的设计工作在一个实用的光学波长，1550nm，用于商业电信。在这里，我们建议调整我们的空间板技术，以适应与激光雷达应用相关的规范，例如距离探测器；还有生物识别扫描仪，包括指纹扫描仪和虹膜扫描仪。首先，这些设备都工作在近红外波长（900纳米），这就需要重新设计一套具有不同光学特性的新兼容材料。此外，它们在特定的角度范围（NA < 0.1）和波长带宽（< 40 nm）下工作，并且具有固定的偏振。我们的重新设计将包括所有这些要求，使我们的想法更接近商业化。我们将制造和表征这些设计以验证我们的设备。我们的工作结果将有助于使上述设备小型化，生产更轻、更紧凑的基于激光雷达的距离探测器和生物识别扫描仪。这些设备将为智能手机和笔记本电脑带来更安全的身份验证功能，并为自动驾驶汽车、建筑设备和机器人车辆等自动驾驶汽车提供更多传感器。

All optical devices, ranging from common ones (e.g., cameras and telescopes) to those on the cutting edge (e.g., biometric scanners or range-detectors based on LIDAR), contain some combination of lenses and sensors. For lenses to function in all of these applications, they require a region of empty space for light to travel and form images. Unfortunately, this region of space is large enough to significantly increase the total size of these many devices, precluding them from being incorporated into mobile devices. Our team has developed a new optical element called a spaceplate that can be added to lens systems to compress the size of these empty regions. The proof-of-concept spaceplates we have designed thus far have impressive compression factors exceeding 300. For example, a spaceplate with this compression factor will squeeze 2.5 mm of space into a plate only 7.5 microns thick. Moreover, these initial designs operate at a practical optical wavelength, 1550nm, used by commercial telecommunications. Here, we propose to adapt our spaceplate technology for the specifications relevant to those used in LIDAR applications, such as range-detectors; and biometric scanners, including fingerprint scanners and iris scanners. First, these devices all operate at near-infrared wavelengths (900 nm), necessitating a complete redesign for a new set of compatible materials with different optical properties. In addition, they operate for a specified range of angles (NA < 0.1) and wavelength bandwidth (< 40 nm) and for a fixed polarization. Our redesign will incorporate all of these requirements to bring our idea closer to commercialization. We will fabricate and characterize these designs to validate our devices. The results of our work will help to miniaturize the devices described above, producing lighter, more compact LIDAR-based range-detectors and biometric scanners. These devices will lead to more secure authentication capabilities on smartphones and laptops and more sensors on autonomous vehicles, including self-driving cars, construction equipment, and robotic vehicles.