Inverse-designed metasurfaces for wavefront restoration in under-display camera systems

Under-display camera (UDC) systems enable full-screen displays in smartphones by embedding the camera beneath the display panel, eliminating the need for notches or punch holes. However, the periodic pixel structures of display panels introduce significant optical diffraction effects, leading to imaging artifacts and degraded visual quality. Conventional approaches to mitigate these distortions, such as deep learning-based image reconstruction, are often computationally expensive and unsuitable for real-time applications in consumer electronics. This work introduces an inverse-designed metasurface for wavefront restoration, addressing diffraction-induced distortions without relying on external software processing. The proposed metasurface effectively suppresses higher-order diffraction modes caused by the metallic pixel structures, restores the optical wavefront, and enhances imaging quality across multiple wavelengths. By eliminating the need for software-based post-processing, our approach establishes a scalable, real-time optical solution for diffraction management in UDC systems. This advancement paves the way to achieve software-free real-time image restoration frameworks for many industrial applications.