Polarization-Multiplexed Meta-Diffraction Phase Microscopy

Quantitative phase imaging has emerged as an essential tool for bioimaging, semiconductor wafer defect inspection, and material metrology. In particular, the drive toward compact and portable phase imaging systems is crucial for extending the reach of these powerful techniques to point-of-care diagnostics and inline surface profile measurement. In this work, we propose and demonstrate a polarization-multiplexed metasurface-enabled diffraction phase microscopy system for quantitative phase imaging. The metalens performs a Fourier transform and simultaneously separates two orthogonal polarizations in the Fourier plane, generating the object (x-polarized) and reference (y-polarized) waves, respectively. We first validated the system’s phase-imaging capability integrated with a standard microscope. Crucially, we then demonstrated its ability to operate as a compact, standalone system without a microscope. We envision that the proposed compact system will catalyze new applications in diverse fields, such as point-of-care diagnostics, in situ industrial monitoring, and in-line surface metrology.