A golay metalens for long-range, large aperture, thermal imaging via sparse aperture computational imaging.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 41271682.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-025-65188-y and PMC identifier 12639110.
- Licence recorded as CC BY-NC-ND.
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Abstract
Long-range imaging in the Mid-wave infrared (MWIR) is crucial for defense, industrial and environmental applications, requiring very large aperture (~100-1000 mm) lenses for high-resolution imaging. Glass-based refractive optics make such systems bulky and expensive. Metalenses are lightweight alternatives but face fabrication limits at large apertures. We proposed a computational imaging strategy, the Golay metalens, combining (a) a small aperture array in designed spatial configuration and (b) a reconstruction algorithm that recover high-resolution, high-contrast images as though obtained by a single large aperture lens. The design is inherently scalable to larger apertures. A prototype in 89 mm diameter, 356 mm focal length was demonstrated, achieving near diffraction-limited performance enhanced by an image reconstruction algorithm with neural network-based denoising. A large recursive Golay metalens was further designed, demonstrating improved spatial resolution in simulations. Our development represents a significant step toward practical, high-performance MWIR imaging systems that are both scalable and accessible.