Dual-mode liquid-crystal element for polarization imaging with an extended depth of field
Extended depth-of-field (DoF) imaging enhances longitudinal clarity but traditionally fails to record polarization information.Here, we propose a liquid-crystal Pancharatnam-Berry (PB) phase element that extends DoF while sensing polarization ellipticity.Leveraging cubic-phase-induced defocus-insensitive point spread functions, a 10 cm DoF is achieved in a 10-cmfocal-length 4f system.Linear PB phases enable spin-orbit interactions to detect polarization states, overcoming irreversible polarization loss in conventional methods.This dual-functionality system integrates DoF extension with polarization sensing, enhancing multidimensional imaging capabilities and holding promise for advancing machine vision, microscopic imaging, and optical detection by merging depth clarity with polarization-based object differentiation.
Authors
- Xuanguang Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-4892-0593)
- Sheng Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0090-8118)
- Xuetao Gan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2469-5807)
- Xiaofeng Xu
- Bingyan Wei (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4073-5381)
- Peng Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8780-5554)
- Jianlin Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4619-1215)
- Weiqi Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2852-8192)
- Xuanyu Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0007-1512-4777)
Institutions
- Northwestern Polytechnical University (CN)
- Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Chinese Optics Letters
- Published
- 2025-01-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3788/col202523.100006
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Liquid Crystal Research Advancements
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.43
Funders
- Northwestern University
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Northwestern Polytechnical University
- National Key Research and Development Program of China
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities