Samsung and POSTECH researchers unmasked its ultrathin metalens camera technology in Nature Communications, using nanostructures to manipulate light, enabling slimmer smartphone and extended reality (XR) lenses with 20% reduced thickness.
The 1.6mm-thick prototype achieves 120° field-of-view and 72% modulation transfer function (MTF) performance, solving phase-delay issues that hindered past metalenses.
Team leader, Dr. Jeong-Geun Yun, called it light manipulation technique as a “critical step toward mass production” for wearables and phones.
The project is under the leadership of Dr. Jeong-Geun Yun of Samsung Research and Professor Junsuk Rho of POSTECH and offers new opportunities in metalens technology. Their approach will change how we are currently designing cameras in XR headsets and smartphones in the near future with more light, thin, and precise.
Metasurface Folded Lens System for Ultrathin Cameras
Metalenses are thin lenses created by microscopic structures that focus light. Instead of relying on the curved glass of traditional lenses, this Flat lens technology uses well-arranged nanostructures to focus light in thinner, compacter forms.
What makes this research stand out is how it solves the long-standing issue of full-wavelength phase delay. Typical designs require tall and thin nanostructures, difficult to build and brittle. This team used a two-thirds wavelength phase delay, shortening and stiffening structures without losing performance, a slick demonstration of light manipulation on the nanoscale.
“Metalenses have been difficult to commercialize due to complex fabrication and low mechanical stability. To overcome this, we collaborated with experts in design, simulation, manufacturing and validation to develop a new nanostructure design method, ” said Dr. Jeong-Geun Yun.
This Metasurface lens innovation means enhanced production, reduced cost, and enhanced optical properties of nanostructures, which would lead to mass application in upcoming consumer electronics.
Transformation Optics and Subwavelength Control of Light
To illustrate the design, researchers built an ultra-thin infrared eye camera for wearables and smartphones. The 1.6mm-thick camera achieved accurate gaze tracking and iris recognition despite its thickness. This 20% thinness is a major milestone in the development of thin camera modules for smartphones and wearables.
With the Metasurface lens, the camera was able to gain up to a 120-degree field of view and improve picture quality, with MTF performance being boosted from 50% to 72%. This kind of accuracy isn’t typical with optical systems of that size.
A revolution in optical manipulation is evolving, allowing engineers to design smarter imaging systems with less limitation. The metalens can, in the future, find its way into optical sensors in wearable technology, extending its use beyond XR devices.
In the coming future, Samsung and POSTECH are focusing on using this lens design with visible light systems. This will reduce camera bumps and advance light bending at a nanoscale to a new wave of devices and phones.
With ongoing research through industry-academic collaboration, Samsung will develop this phase light modulator method further, advancing it towards practical uses much broadband achromatic metalens.
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