Metaoptics and computational imaging
Impact statement
Conventional optical components such as lenses, waveplates, and holograms rely on light propagation over distances much larger than the wavelength to shape optical wavefronts. In contrast, metasurfaces and nanophotonic structures enable abrupt, subwavelength control of phase, amplitude, polarization, and dispersion using ultrathin layers of engineered scatterers. These capabilities open new routes to compact, multifunctional optical systems with form factors and functionalities inaccessible to traditional optics.
A central challenge of metaoptics is that increased functionality—such as broadband operation, large numerical aperture, or multiplexed degrees of freedom—often comes at the cost of efficiency, aberrations, or fabrication complexity. Our research addresses these limitations by integrating metasurfaces with computational imaging algorithms. In this paradigm, metaoptics act as physical preconditioners whose optical response is co-designed with reconstruction and inference algorithms through end-to-end (inverse) optimization.
By unifying nanophotonic design with physics-aware computation, this approach enables imaging and sensing systems that jointly optimize hardware and software, allowing optical functionality to emerge directly from task-level objectives. Beyond classical imaging, these concepts extend naturally to polarization and phase imaging, spectral sensing, and the measurement of high-dimensional quantum states of light.
Research questions
- What metaoptic architectures—such as multilayer, volumetric, or nonlocal designs—enable compact devices with functionality comparable to or exceeding conventional optical systems?
- How can metasurfaces be co-designed with reconstruction and inference algorithms through end-to-end inverse design to optimize imaging, classification, and sensing tasks?
- How can metaoptic computational imaging be extended to phase, polarization, spectral, and quantum-state measurements in compact and scalable platforms?
Selected publications
- J. Chen†, S. Vaidya, S. Pajovic, S. Choi, W. Michaels, L. Martin-Monier, J. Hu, C. Cogswell, C. Roques-Carmes, and M. Soljačić, Wavefront Engineering for Scintillation-Based Imaging, ACS Photonics, 7, 13 (2026) (Link to article) (Link to preprint)
- C. Roques-Carmes†, K. Wang, Y. Yang, A. Majumdar, Z. Lin†, Computational metaoptics for imaging, ACS Photonics, 4, 12, 1722-1733 (2025) — Invited perspective article. (Link to article) (Link to preprint)
- G. Arya†, W. Li, C. Roques-Carmes, M. Soljačić, S. G. Johnson, Z. Lin, End-to-End Optimization of Metasurfaces for Imaging with Compressed Sensing, ACS Photonics, 5, 11, 2077-2087 (2024) (Link to article) (Link to preprint)
- W. Li†, G. Arya, C. Roques-Carmes, Z. Lin, S. G. Johnson, and M. Soljačić, Transcending shift-invariance in the paraxial regime via end-to-end inverse design of freeform nanophotonics, Optics Express, 15, 31, 24260-24272 (2023) (Link to article) (Link to preprint)
- A. Shultzman*, O. Segal*, Y. Kurman, C. Roques-Carmes, and I. Kaminer†, Enhanced Imaging Using Inverse-Design of Nanophotonic Scintillators, Advanced Optical Materials, 8, 11, 2202318 (2023) (Link to article)