An imaging device uses a grating to produce an interference pattern for capture by a photodetector array. Digital photographs and other image information can then be extracted from the pattern. An integrated processor locally supports this extraction by upsampling the captured interference pattern and deconvolving the upsampled pattern with an image-calculation parameter set that represents the grating at a resolution greater than that provided by the photodetector array. Deconvolving the upsampled pattern with a high-resolution parameter increases the resolution of extracted image information.

A high index contrast grating (HICG) structure is disclosed. The HICG structure includes plurality of gratings fabricated from a high refractive index layer. The high refractive index layer is situated over a low refractive index substrate, wherein the high refractive index layer is patterned after determining a period and a duty cycle of each of the plurality of gratings for a desired reflection phase profile based on a lookup table. The low refractive index substrate includes sapphire. The plurality of gratings includes polycrystalline or amorphous silicon. The HICG structure includes subwavelength gratings for incident wavelengths of equal to or greater than 2.5 microns. An exemplary method for forming the HICG structure is also disclosed.

A method is disclosed of fabricating all-dielectric flat lens with low refractive index comprising: selecting dielectric substrate material and lens structure material; determining incident wavelength; calculating phase modulation corresponding to each pillar unit; periodically sampling circular area of dielectric substrate with radius to obtain plurality of sampling points; calculating phase modulation required at position of each sampling point; obtaining pillar corresponding to each sampling point; arranging different dielectric pillars with low refractive index and same thickness are arranged on dielectric substrate, thereby obtaining all dielectric flat lens with low refractive index. Also disclosed is method of fabricating all-dielectric flat lens with low refractive index that fabricates plane divergent lens with high transmission in wavelength range of visible light, and providing all-dielectric flat lens with low refractive index to improve transmission in visible light region through using dielectric with low refractive index to replace metal and dielectric with high refractive index.

A light modulating device 103 includes: a selective diffraction device (10, 10′) which generates diffracted light beams of a plurality of orders by diffracting illumination light into one of a plurality of directions, the illumination light being linearly polarized light having a polarization plane oriented in a first polarization direction, and which causes a phase difference between the diffracted light beams of the plurality of orders; and a polarization plane rotating device 14 which rotates the polarization plane of the diffracted light beam of each order so as to be oriented in a direction perpendicular to a direction radiating from an optical axis.

A sensing device with an odd-symmetry grating projects near-field spatial modulations onto a closely spaced photodetector array. Due to physical properties of the grating, the spatial modulations are in focus for a range of wavelengths and spacings. The spatial modulations are captured by the array, and photographs and other image information can be extracted from the resultant data. Used in conjunction with a converging optical element, versions of these gratings provide depth information about objects in an imaged scene. This depth information can be computationally extracted to obtain a depth map of the scene.

An optical system for shaping a laser beam includes a beam shaping element configured to receive the laser beam having a transverse input intensity profile and to impose a beam shaping phase distribution onto the laser beam. The optical system further includes a near field optical element, arranged downstream of the beam shaping element at a beam shaping distance and is configured to focus the laser beam into the focus zone. The imposed phase distribution results in a virtual optical image of the elongated focus zone located before the beam shaping element. The beam shaping distance corresponds to a propagation length of the laser beam within which the imposed phase distribution transforms the transverse input intensity profile into a transverse output intensity profile at the near field optical element.

Provided is a meta optical device including a plurality of phase modulation regions respectively including a plurality of nanostructures that have shapes and arrangement based on a preset rule, the plurality of phase modulation regions being configured to modulate a phase of incident light of a preset wavelength band, wherein at least two phase modulation regions of the plurality of phase modulation regions have phase modulation ranges in a first direction that are same, and wherein the plurality of nanostructures included in the at least two phase modulation regions have width ranges in the first direction that are different from each other.

Image-sensing devices include odd-symmetry gratings that cast interference patterns over a photodetector array. Grating features offer considerable insensitivity to the wavelength of incident light, and to the manufactured distance between the grating and the photodetector array. Photographs and other image information can be extracted from interference patterns captured by the photodetector array. Images can be captured without a lens, and cameras can be made smaller than those that are reliant on lenses and ray-optical focusing.

A diffractive optical element capable of further reducing zero-order diffraction light includes a diffraction layer including: a high refractive index part in which a plurality of projections are arranged side by side in a cross-sectional shape; and a low refractive index part that has a lower refractive index than the high refractive index part and that includes a recess formed at least between the projections. The projections have a sawtooth shape or a shape that imitates a sawtooth shape by a multi-stage outline shape. An inclined plane that is inclined with respect to a sheet surface of the diffractive optical element, which has a sawtooth shape or a sawtooth shape imitated by a multi-stage outline shape, has a concave curved plane that is concave toward the projections.

Optical beam steering and focusing systems, devices, and methods that utilize diffractive waveplates are improved to produce high efficiency at large beam deflection angles, particularly around normal incidence, by diffractive waveplate architectures comprising a special combination of liquid crystal polymer diffractive waveplate both layers with internal twisted structure and at a layer with uniform structure.