Full-color-sorting metalenses for high-sensitivity image sensors

• Published in: Optica 2021-12, Vol.8 (12), p.1596
• Main Authors: Miyata, Masashi, Nemoto, Naru, Shikama, Kota, Kobayashi, Fumihide, Hashimoto, Toshikazu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2334-2536; 2334-2536
• DOI: 10.1364/OPTICA.444255

Image sensors play a critical role in current technologies ranging from smartphones to autonomous vehicles. In these technologies, high-sensitivity image sensors are highly desired because they enable dark-scene/ultra-fast imaging. Unfortunately, a conventional sensor architecture that employs color filters on every pixel fundamentally limits the detected light power per pixel because of the filtering, which has been a long-standing barrier to sensitivity improvement. Here, we demonstrate polarization-insensitive metasurface lenses (metalenses) that sort primary colors on high-density pixels without the use of color filters. The metalenses simultaneously act as pixel-scale color splitters and lenses and are compatible with complementary metal–oxide-semiconductor sensor technology. An image sensor with such metalenses significantly enhances the detected light power, while affording high image quality, incident angle tolerance, and sub-micrometer spatial resolution. The demonstrated architecture opens the way to the development of high-sensitivity color image sensors that exceed current limits while maintaining consistency with state-of-the-art sensor technology.