Large-scale achromatic flat lens by light frequency-domain coherence optimization

• Published in: Light, science & applications Vol. 11; no. 1; pp. 323 - 9
• Main Authors: Xiao, Xingjian, Zhao, Yunwei, Ye, Xin, Chen, Chen, Lu, Xinmou, Rong, Yansen, Deng, Junhong, Li, Guixin, Zhu, Shining, Li, Tao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 11.11.2022; Springer Nature B.V; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 639/624/1107/510; 639/624/400/1113; Lasers; Microwaves; Optical and Electronic Materials; Optical Devices; Optics; Optimization; Photonics; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; RF and Optical Engineering
• ISSN: 2047-7538; 2095-5545; 2047-7538
• DOI: 10.1038/s41377-022-01024-y

Flat lenses, including metalens and diffractive lens, have attracted increasing attention due to their ability to miniaturize the imaging devices. However, realizing a large scale achromatic flat lens with high performance still remains a big challenge. Here, we developed a new framework in designing achromatic multi-level diffractive lenses by light coherence optimization, which enables the implementation of large-scale flat lenses under non-ideal conditions. As results, a series achromatic polymer lenses with diameter from 1 to 10 mm are successfully designed and fabricated. The subsequent optical characterizations substantially validate our theoretical framework and show relatively good performance of the centimeter-scale achromatic multi-level diffractive lenses with a super broad bandwidth in optical wavelengths (400–1100 nm). After comparing with conventional refractive lens, this achromatic lens shows significant advantages in white-light imaging performance, implying a new strategy in developing practical planar optical devices. We developed a new framework in designing centimeter-scale achromatic multi-level diffractive lenses by light frequency-domain coherence optimization, which shows significant advantages in white-light imaging performance over the traditional refractive lens.