Metasurface spectrometers beyond resolution-sensitivity constraints
Abstract
Optical spectroscopy plays an essential role across scientific research and industry for non-contact materials analysis1-3, increasingly through in-situ or portable platforms4-6. However, when considering low-light-level applications, conventional spectrometer designs necessitate a compromise between their resolution and sensitivity7,8, especially as device and detector dimensions are scaled down. Here, we report on a miniaturizable spectrometer platform where light throughput onto the detector is instead enhanced as the resolution is increased. This planar, CMOS-compatible platform is based around metasurface encoders designed to exhibit photonic bound states in the continuum9, where operational range can be altered or extended simply through adjusting geometric parameters. This system can enhance photon collection efficiency by up to two orders of magnitude versus conventional designs; we demonstrate this sensitivity advantage through ultra-low-intensity fluorescent and astrophotonic spectroscopy. This work represents a step forward for the practical utility of spectrometers, affording a route to integrated, chip-based devices that maintain high resolution and SNR without requiring prohibitively long integration times.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2402.18996,
title = {Metasurface spectrometers beyond resolution-sensitivity constraints},
author = {Feng Tang and Jingjun Wu and Tom Albrow-Owen and Hanxiao Cui and Fujia Chen and Yaqi Shi and Lan Zou and Jun Chen and Xuhan Guo and Yijun Sun and Jikui Luo and Bingfeng Ju and Jing Huang and Shuangli Liu and Bo Li and Liming Yang and Eric Anthony Munro and Wanguo Zheng and Hannah J. Joyce and Hongsheng Chen and Lufeng Che and Shurong Dong and Tawfique Hasan and Xin Ye and Yihao Yang and Zongyin Yang},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2402.18996},
year = {2024}
}