Multispectral Chiral Imaging with a Metalens.
The vast majority of biologically active compounds, ranging from amino acids to essential nutrients such as glucose, possess intrinsic handedness. This in turn gives rise to chiral optical properties that provide a basis for detecting and quantifying enantio-specific concentrations of these molecules. However, traditional chiroptical spectroscopy and imaging techniques require cascading of multiple optical components in sophisticated setups. Here, we present a planar lens with an engineered dispersive response, which simultaneously forms two images with opposite helicity of an object within the same field-of-view. In this way, chiroptical properties can be probed across the visible spectrum using only the lens and a camera without the addition of polarizers or dispersive optical devices. We map the circular dichroism of the exoskeleton of a chiral beetle, Chrysina gloriosa, which is known to exhibit high reflectivity of left-circularly polarized light, with high spatial resolution limited by the numerical aperture of the planar lens. Our results demonstrate the potential of metasurfaces in realizing a compact and multifunctional device with unprecedented imaging capabilities.
Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University , Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, United States.
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M
Khorasaninejad
Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University , Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, United States.
W T
WT
Chen
Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University , Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, United States.
A Y
AY
Zhu
Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University , Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, United States.|University of Waterloo , Waterloo Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada.
J
J
Oh
Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University , Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, United States.
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RC
Devlin
Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University , Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, United States.|University of Waterloo , Waterloo Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada.
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D
Rousso
Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University , Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, United States.
F
F
Capasso
Metasurface; chiral imaging; dispersive elements; multispectral; off-axis meta-lens