Metasurface Based Optical Metrology Systems: Design, Fabrication, and Implementations

Overview

This dissertation presents a comprehensive framework for advancing metasurface technology from individual components to fully integrated optical instruments. Motivated by the limitations of traditional bulk-material optics—which often result in large footprints, high costs, and compromised performance—this research introduces high-performance metasurfaces as a designer-defined platform to overcome these constraints. The dissertation demonstrates that inverse-designed silicon-based metasurfaces can effectively replace existing bulk material optics in visible wavelength applications, providing experimental evidence of devices performing on par with commercial optics.

The research here explores the integration of nanophotonic engineering with machine learning to advance metrology techniques. As a demonstration, the dissertation introduces a bio-imaging method that employs a nanostructured surface to manipulate biological cells into thin films, enabling high-throughput measurements of their biophysical properties through the algorithmic analysis of their structural coloration.

Further expanding this research, the dissertation introduces Hyplex™, a general-purpose metasurface-based instrument that functions as a hyperspectral camera. By harnessing optical information processing with metasurfaces, Hyplex™ surpasses the traditional limitations of resolution, size, speed, and cost of conventional hyperspectral cameras. Experimental validation proves the system's capabilities in terrain classification, spectral signature-based object tracking, and real-time material segmentation.

The techniques, methods, and results presented in this dissertation lay the foundation for a generation of integrated optical tools based on metasurface technology. This work bridges the gap between academic research and industrial applications, unlocking research opportunities that drive the evolution of metasurfaces as the cornerstone of modern optical instrumentation.