Phys.org May 22, 2019
Metasurfaces etched with individual features can create patterns that enable the surface to scatter light very precisely if the exact pattern needed to produce a desired optical effect is known. A team of researchers in the US (MIT, Harvard) has developed a computational technique that can quickly map out patterns for a range of desired optical effects. Instead of having to solve Maxwell’s equations for every single nanometer-sized pixel in a square centimeter of material, the researchers solved these equations for pixel “patches.” Using their technique, the researchers quickly came up with optical patterns for several “metadevices,” including a solar concentrator that takes incoming light from any direction and focuses it to a single point, and an achromatic lens, which scatters light of different wavelengths, or colors, to the same point, with equal focus. These surfaces could be produced as sensors for cars that drive themselves, or augmented reality, where you need good optics…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ
MIT mathematicians have developed a technique that quickly determines the ideal arrangement of millions of individual, microscopic features on a metasurface, to generate a flat lens that manipulates light in a specified way. Credit: Zin LIn