Ultraviolet-Visible Spectroscopy with All-Dielectric Multi-Foci Dispersive Metalens

Abstract Metasurfaces are a cutting-edge development in optical technology miniaturization, enabling the manipulation of light at a microscopic scale while providing unprecedented control over its intrinsic characteristics, such as amplitude, polarization, and phase. Researchers have been making significant progress in advancing and developing high-efficiency and functionally versatile metasurfaces, aiming to achieve miniaturization and overcoming the technological limitations of conventional components. This article is intended to develop a single-layered, highly transmissive all-dielectric multi-foci metalens that serves as a compact spectrometer for portable investigative measurements within the ultraviolet to the visible spectrum, especially for 290 – 460 nm band. The proposed metalens can achieve top-notch performance by precisely mapping the wavelength information into subwavelength diffraction-limited focusing spots. This approach helps in accomplishing simultaneous spectral splitting and focusing on the same plane. The proposed metalens consists of an array of intelligently optimized nanoantennas made of a CMOS-compatible silicon nitride material. It exploits a unique phase and wavelength multiplexing strategy to create highly dispersive multi-foci metalens, making it an ideal choice for an ultra-compact, high-resolution, and dual-band meta-spectrometer. We expect our proposed framework to have numerous applications in the industrial and medical fields, enabling diagnosis, detection, and assessment within a compact platform.