BOSTON, June 26,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Refractive lenses are one of
humanity's oldest and most ubiquitous technologies. They have
developed to dizzying levels of sophistication in the last few
hundred years, with today's tiny, high-quality lens assemblies
found in smartphones often costing less than a dollar to
produce.
In contrast, metalenses only saw their commercial debut in 2022,
yet IDTechEx's report, 'Metamaterials Markets 2024-2034: Optical
and Radio-Frequency', forecasts a multibillion-dollar market for
these flat optics within ten years. Much of this predicted growth
is down to the potential metalenses have to make computer vision
more powerful.
Shrinking lenses down
Instead of using the curved geometry of a refractive material to
focus light, metalenses use nanoscale patterns of 'meta-atoms',
which are typically patterned via standard semiconductor industry
processes like DUV lithography. This could simplify image sensor
supply chains by allowing optics to be produced in the same
facilities as sensors.
However, the greatest benefit is that, unlike refractive or
diffractive optical elements, metalenses can perform near-arbitrary
transformations to wavefronts of light. A single metalens can
generally be used where multiple 'conventional' optical elements
are needed to control optical aberrations and render images
acceptably. This could reduce the cost of advanced optical systems
while reducing their size and adding new optical capabilities.
To give one example, the FaceID sensors used in iPhones produce
a 3D scan of the face by projecting a dot pattern from an IR laser
onto the face. In structured light projectors like this, a single
metalens could do the same job as several diffractive and
refractive lenses while improving imaging performance, reducing
temperature dependency, and improving signal-to-noise ratio.
Harvard spinout Metalenz was the
first company to commercialize metalenses, with STMicro using its
lens designs in some of its time-of-flight sensors since 2022. In
2023, Metalenz announced two customers for its Orion dot
projectors, Dilusense and Vertilite. These are expected to be used
in facial biometric systems and represent the second known
commercial application of metalens technology. These dot projectors
may well outperform existing options in terms of price as well as
optical performance.
New imaging possibilities
The capabilities of metalenses go beyond simply replacing
today's optics. Metalenses are sometimes labeled as gradient index
lenses. To vastly oversimplify, the meta-atoms are small enough
relative to the wavelengths they interact with that the waves
cannot 'see' the individual structures, so packing the meta-atoms
more densely gives the material a higher refractive index. However,
this obscures the full potential of technology. Meta-atoms can be
resonators, waveguides, or half-waveplates (which modify the
polarization state of light), so they can be highly selective
depending on wavelength, polarization state, and more. The upshot
is that by harnessing these different methods of modifying phase,
metalenses can perform optical functions that would be impossible
or prohibitively bulky and costly to achieve with 'conventional'
optics.
Metalenz's Polar ID face unlock system may be the first
technology to demonstrate this possibility commercially, offering a
competitor to Apple's FaceID system for use in Android phones. An
IR flood illuminator can be placed right next to a camera, which
uses a metalens to form an image. The metalens splits the image of
the face into multiple polarization components; achieving this with
conventional optics requires several beamsplitters and filters and
would be too large and expensive to use in a smartphone.
Since human faces have unique polarization signatures, Metalenz
says this system easily detects spoofing attempts with 2D images or
masks while having a higher spatial resolution than competitor
systems. Structured light sensors require the projector to be
spatially separate from the camera, which is responsible for the
notch in iPhones. This is not the case with Polar ID, which is also
expected to be substantially cheaper. Polar ID appears to be
gearing up for production, and it seems highly likely it will make
its way into smartphones soon.
Towards the visual spectrum
Commercial metalenses so far have been designed to operate with
single-wavelength illumination in the IR spectrum, but in the
future, they could replace a wider array of camera lenses, both for
computer vision purposes and for photography and videography.
Optimizing metalens design for achromatic (full color) performance
is arguably still a work in progress. However, a solution has
already emerged for patterning visual spectrum metalenses, which
require smaller feature sizes than IR metalenses due to the shorter
wavelengths involved.
Utah-based nano-optical
component supplier Moxtek has set up a metasurface foundry, which
it believes is better suited to visual spectrum metalenses than the
DUV lithography processes employed by other metalens manufacturers.
Moxtek uses nanoimprint lithography (NIL), stamping the meta-atom
pattern into a resist before etching it into a high-refractive
index material. This is capable of recording smaller features than
DUV, which Moxtek says is not reliably capable of patterning down
to the scale required for visual spectrum metalenses. This
well-proven process is also expected to be more cost-effective than
the EUV lithography used in the latest semiconductor nodes.
Further insights
Given that metalenses entered the commercial market so recently,
the scope for their technological development and growth into
further applications in computer vision and beyond is huge.
IDTechEx has been studying emerging materials and photonics
technologies and their market opportunities for a decade, utilizing
extensive primary research. Their report, 'Metamaterials Markets
2024-2034: Optical and Radio-Frequency' is now in its second
edition. Providing an in-depth understanding of the underlying
technologies, manufacturing methods, and application opportunities,
it explores the trajectory of the metalens market, in addition to
other important electromagnetic metamaterial technologies,
including reconfigurable intelligent surfaces and radar
beamformers. It is essential reading for those wishing to build a
comprehensive picture of this exciting space.
To find out more about this IDTechEx report, including
downloadable sample pages, please visit www.IDTechEx.com/Meta.
For the full portfolio of 5G, 6G, RFID and Telecoms market
research available from IDTechEx, please see
www.IDTechEx.com/Research/5G.
About IDTechEx
IDTechEx provides trusted independent research on emerging
technologies and their markets. Since 1999, we have been
helping our clients to understand new technologies, their supply
chains, market requirements, opportunities and forecasts. For more
information, contact research@IDTechEx.com or
visit www.IDTechEx.com.
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