Switchable multi-mode metalens for versatile bright-field and edge-enhanced imaging
A compact dual-mode microscopy system integrates bright-field and edge-enhanced imaging into a single, tunable setup. The system employs a dual-mode metalens designed solely based on the geometric phase, ensuring simplicity and efficiency. By bonding a liquid-crystal (LC) cell onto the metasurface as a tunable birefringent layer, real-time switching between imaging modes is achieved by altering the spin state of the incident light. The metalens combines a hyperbolic phase profile for bright-field imaging with a spiral phase profile for isotropic edge enhancement, operating effectively across the visible spectrum. At 635 nm, it achieves efficiencies of 49.66% for left-handed circularly polarized and 49.23% for right-handed circularly polarized light, with higher performance at other wavelengths. This advancement holds potential for biomedical imaging, surface defect detection, and portable optical devices.
Authors
- Isma Javed (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-1125-1684)
- Naveed Muhammad (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4766-6139)
- Junsuk Rho (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2179-2890)
- Aqib Raza Shah (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-4166-1723)
- Jichuan Xiong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7051-802X)
- Bing Ni (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4297-5346)
- Eunji Lee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-5221-0405)
- Yeseul Kim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6870-9214)
- Joohoon Kim (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0827-1919)
- Hyunjung Kang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8014-1521)
- Muhammad Qasim Mehmood (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2793-2137)
- Bin Xu
- Xuefeng Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9506-7798)
Institutions
- University of Nebraska–Lincoln (US)
- Information Technology University (PK)
- University of the Punjab (PK)
- Nanjing University of Science and Technology (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Photonics Research
- Published
- 2025-10-27
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1364/prj.575235
- Citations
- 1
- Primary Topic
- Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.43