Team Members: Ronen Mazurski

Supervisors / Mentors: Prof. Uriel Levy, Dr. Jacob Engelberg

 

This research presents a novel approach to simplifying thermal imaging optics by replacing conventional multi-element refractive lens systems with a single achromatic metalens. Utilizing metasurfaces, which are interfaces patterned with engineered sub-wavelength nanostructures, the designed silicon-based metalens achieves broadband achromatic focusing in the mid-wave infrared (MWIR) spectrum. The design leverages a particle-swarm optimization algorithm to minimize aberrations and maximize an Overall Performance Metric (OPM), which considers both image resolution and signal-to-noise ratio. Inspired by the human eye’s prioritization of central field-of-view quality, the approach mitigates lateral chromatic aberrations while significantly reducing system size, complexity, and cost. Simulations of nanostructure response using Lumerical FDTD and calibration of modulation transfer function (MTF) measurement experimental set-up are conducted for analysis and verification.