The Effect of Fabrication Error on the Performance of Mid-Infrared Metalens with Large Field-of-View.

Abstract

Mid-infrared large field-of-view (FOV) imaging optics play a vital role in infrared imaging and detection. The metalens, which is composed of subwavelength-arrayed structures, provides a new possibility for the miniaturization of large FOV imaging systems. However, the inaccuracy during fabrication is the main obstacle to developing practical uses for metalenses. Here, we introduce the principle and method of designing a large FOV doublet metalens at the mid-infrared band. Then, the quantitative relationship between the fabrication error and the performance of the doublet metalens with a large FOV from four different fabrication errors is explored by using the finite-difference time-domain method. The simulation results show that the inclined sidewall error has the greatest impact on the focusing performance, and the interlayer alignment error deforms the focusing beam and affects the focusing performance, while the spacer thickness error has almost no impact on the performance. The contents discussed in this paper can help manufacturers determine the allowable processing error range of the large FOV doublet metalens and the priority level for optimizing the process, which is of significance.