Hot Paper - Parallel bright-field and multi-order edge imaging via wide field-of-view trichannel metalens

Parallel bright-field and multi-order edge imaging via wide field-of-view trichannel metalens

通过广角视场三通道超透镜实现并行明场和多阶边缘成像
広視野三チャンネルメタレンズによる並列明視野および多秩序エッジイメージング
광폭 시야 삼채널 메탈렌스를 통한 병렬 밝은장 및 다중 주파수 에지 이미징
Imágenes paralelas de campo claro y de bordes de múltiples órdenes mediante metalente tricanal de amplio campo de visión
Imagerie parallèle en champ clair et multi-ordre des bords via une métalune trichanale à grand champ de vision
Параллельное формирование яркого поля и изображений краев нескольких порядков с помощью трехканальной метадлинзы с широким полем зрения

Xiaotong Li ¹, Yeseul Kim ¹, Youngsun Jeon ¹, Junhwa Seong ¹, Jaekyung Kim ¹, Peng Tang ¹, Shiqi Hu ¹, Harit Keawmuang ¹, Beomha Yang ², Dongmin Jeon ¹, Le Dai ³, Weiyan Li ⁴ ⁵, Xiaodong Cai ⁶, Jinhui Shi ⁴ ⁵, Yong-Sang Ryu ⁷, Trevon Badloe ⁸ ⁹, Junsuk Rho ¹ ² ³ ¹⁰ ¹¹ ¹²

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang 37673, Republic of Korea
² Quantum Information Science Program, Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang 37673, Republic of Korea
³ Department of Electrical Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang 37673, Republic of Korea
⁴ Key Laboratory of In-Fiber Integrated Optics of Ministry of Education, College of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150001, China
中国哈尔滨哈尔滨工程大学物理与光电子工程学院纤维集成光学教育部重点实验室
⁵ Key Laboratory of Photonic Materials and Devices Physics for Oceanic Applications, College of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150001, China
中国哈尔滨哈尔滨工程大学物理与光电学院海洋光子材料与器件物理工业和信息化部重点实验室
⁶ Thin Film Optics R&D Center, Department of High-power Laser Optics Technology and Engineering, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 201800, China
中国上海中国科学院上海光学精密机械研究所高功率激光元件技术与工程部光学薄膜技术研究与发展中心
⁷ School of Biomedical Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 02841, Republic of Korea
⁸ Department of Electronics and Information Engineering, Korea University, Sejong 30019, Republic of Korea
⁹ Digital Healthcare Center, Sejong Institute for Business and Technology, Korea University, Sejong 30019, Republic of Korea
¹⁰ Department of Chemical Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang 37673, Republic of Korea
¹¹ POSCO-POSTECH-RIST Convergence Research Center for Flat Optics and Metaphotonics, Pohang 37673, Republic of Korea
¹² National Institute of Nanomaterials Technology (NINT), Pohang 37673, Republic of Korea

https://doi.org/10.29026/oea.2026.250306

https://www.oejournal.org/oea/article/doi/10.29026/oea.2026.250306

Opto-Electronic Advances, 10 July 2026

Abstract

Modern optical systems require the capability to perform multi-functional and parallel imaging within compact, integrated architectures. However, conventional refractive lenses are bulky, restricted to single-mode operation, and incompatible with planar integration. In this work, we propose a trichannel metalens capable of simultaneously performing bright-field imaging, first-order edge detection, and second-order edge detection over a wide field-of-view (FOV).

Specifically, by encoding combinations of input-output circular polarization, different functions are independently realized in three channels, and the spin-dependent gradient phase is employed to spatially separate them, ensuring that all three functions can be simultaneously captured under linearly polarized illumination, without necessitating mode switching or additional optical components.

Experimental results show that the proposed metalens can parallelly provide three independent imaging functions with clear spatial separation and stable performance over a FOV ranging from −10° to 10°. Our approach offers a promising path toward compact, integrated imaging systems for biomedical imaging, real-time edge analysis, and machine vision applications.

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