Nature inspired design methodology for a wide field of view achromatic metalens

Metalenses have become ubiquitous in academic research and have begun to make their transition to industry. However, chromatic aberration still greatly limits the applications of metalenses. Achieving a wide field-of-view (FOV) is another challenge that has been dealt with successfully by using a removed stop, but when combined with a broadband spectrum, lateral chromatic aberration severely limits performance. In this paper, we tackle this challenge and present a comprehensive design methodology for a simultaneously wide-FOV and achromatic metalens, which is inspired by the human visual system. As a design example, we present a metalens operating in the near infrared (NIR), with 10 % relative spectral bandwidth (807–893 nm), focal length of 5 mm, F/5, and FOV of ±20°. In particular, we show how to optimize the stop position and correct the lateral chromatic aberration, both of which have not been reported in the past. In addition, we evaluate the performance of the metalens using accurate performance metrics and demonstrate the improvement compared to a chromatic metalens. Our approach paves the way for the design of wide FOV metalenses that can operate over a relatively large bandwidth, effectively contributing to the widespread implementation of metalens science and technology.