26th Australian Institute of Physics Congress and the Australian and New Zealand Conference on Optics and Photonics

Disordered mosaic metasurfaces for full-colour single-shot polarimetric imaging

Not scheduled

20m

Belinda Hutchinson Building (The University of Sydney )

Contributed Oral ANZOS | Photonics and Optics (ANZCOP)

Description

Polarimetric imaging reveals optical information inaccessible to conventional intensity-only imaging by resolving the polarization state of light, thereby providing an additional degree of freedom for advanced imaging and sensing. However, conventional polarimetric imaging systems typically require time-sequential acquisition [1] or cascaded bulk optical components [2], limiting their suitability in compact and real-time imaging platforms.

Although metasurface-based polarimetric devices have recently advanced optical integration, existing implementations often suffer from narrow operating bandwidths [3,4] or depend on multi-sectional polarization-analysis architectures [5], which constrain light collection and degrade imaging quality. These limitations make single-shot, full-colour, high-fidelity polarization imaging particularly challenging.

Here, we demonstrate the use of the disordered mosaic metasurface platform [6] for full-colour single-shot polarimetric imaging across the visible spectrum. Spatially disordered polarization-sensitive meta-pixels are engineered within a shared aperture to simultaneously encode polarization-distinctive grating functions onto multiple polarization channels, achieving accurate Stokes-parameter reconstruction in the primary RGB bands. Our compact, metasurface-integrated polarization cameras offer a promising route toward transformative advances in label-free biomedical imaging, surface metrology, and remote sensing.

Reference

1. Peinado, Alba, et al. "Optimized Stokes polarimeters based on a single twisted nematic liquid-crystal device for the minimization of noise propagation." Applied optics 50.28 (2011)
2. Nordin, Gregory P., et al. "Micropolarizer array for infrared imaging polarimetry." Journal of the Optical Society of America A 16.5 (1999)
3. Li, Feng-Jun, et al. "Meta-grating-lens–based monolithic polarization camera." Science Advances 11.43 (2025)
4. Balthasar Mueller, J. P., et al. "Metasurface polarization optics: independent phase control of arbitrary orthogonal states of polarization." Physical review letters 118.11 (2017)
5. Hu, Yueqiang, et al. "Achromatic full Stokes polarimetry metasurface for full-color polarization imaging in the visible range." Nano Letters 24.41 (2024)
6. Li, Chi, et al. "Disordered mosaic metasurfaces with scalable functional density." Nature Communications (2026).