Multi-dimensional wavefront sensing using volumetric meta-optics

Abstract: The ideal imaging system would efficiently capture information about all fundamental properties light: intensity, direction, wavelength, and polarization. Most common imaging systems only map the spatial degrees of freedom of light onto a two dimensional image sensor, with some wavelength and/or polarization discrimination added at the expense of efficiency. Thus, one of the most intriguing problems in optics is how to group and classify multiple degrees of freedom and map them on the two dimensional sensor space. Here we demonstrate through simulation that volumetric meta-optics elements consisting of a highly scattering, inverse-designed medium structured with subwavelength resolution can sort light simultaneously based on direction, wavelength and polarization. This is done by mapping these properties to a distinct combination of pixels on the image sensor for compressed sensing applications, including wavefront sensing, beam profiling, and next-generation plenoptic sensors.