STTR Fast-Track: Advanced Manufacturing of All-inorganic Polarization Controlled Metasurfaces for Enabling Next Generation Full-Stokes Imaging Cameras

This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Fast-Track project aims to bring polarization-controlled metasurfaces into real-world use. Metasurfaces are ultra-thin materials made with tiny structures that can shape and control light in ways traditional lenses cannot. These ultra-thin surfaces can control light in special ways and improve how machines and cameras see, helping with cancer detection, eye imaging, electronics inspection, self-driving cars, environmental monitoring, and defense. They can also speed up internet and phone networks by allowing more data to pass through at once, which supports growing technologies like artificial intelligence. With a market potential of over $20 billion, this compact and powerful alternative to bulky traditional lenses could boost U.S. manufacturing and keep the country at the front of global innovation. The proposed project will demonstrate the first polarization-controlled metasurfaces operating at visible wavelengths, which can be scaled for practical, real-world applications. The project will validate a compelling and versatile, high-speed, additive manufacturing process for metal oxide based optical devices with nanoscale resolution. The deliverables for the project will include polarization controlled metasurfaces that direct and focus light onto two different points based on the polarization state. The scope includes design, prototyping, and optimization of the polarization control optics, integration of the optics into an array-based Full-Stokes imaging camera for use in machine vision applications and will verify the nanoimprint manufacturing process required for volume manufacturing. The project will advance both metasurface design and push the capabilities of additive direct “printing” of inorganic devices with high fidelity, ultra-high aspect ratio (>10) features, resolving challenges related to the scalability and performance of polarization-controlled metasurfaces. Similar optical devices will be designed and manufactured to demonstrate the capability for polarization multiplexing for datacom and telecom optical interconnects. This will provide a critically needed solution to scale transceiver bandwidth from current 800Gb/S to the1 .6 Tb/s data rates required for next generation AI data centers. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.