Flat Optic Metamaterial Array

Lenslet arrays offer a novel approach to adding additional functionality to a wide range of arrayed devices such as imaging arrays, digital micromirror (DMD) devices, LED arrays, and laser arrays. Lenslet arrays allow for increasing the effective fill-factor, gain, and selectivity of these array devices without incurring a significant mass increase by introducing additional bulk refractive elements to the optical train. Despite significant progress that has been made in the field of free form optics, classical refractive lenslet arrays have exhibited limitations including wavefront errors, acceptance angle, focal length, and array pitch. To address this issue, the team of Plasmonics Inc and the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU/APL) propose to develop a novel class of a metamaterial-based flat-optic lenslet array.