Plan meta-objective for sub-micron quantitative phase imaging

Junyi Wang; Jiacheng Sun; Jian Li; Chunyu Huang; Jitao Ji; Wenjing Shen; Zhizhang Wang; Junxiao Zhou; Chen Chen; Shining Zhu; Tao Li

doi:10.1038/s41377-025-02099-z

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Plan meta-objective for sub-micron quantitative phase imaging

Original Articles

- Plan meta-objective for sub-micron quantitative phase imaging
- Light: Science & Applications Vol. 15, Issue 3, Pages: 804-813(2026)
- Affiliations：
  
  National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Key Laboratory of Intelligent Optical Sensing and Manipulations, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Artificial Functional Materials, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
- Author bio：
  
  Chen Chen (chenchen2021@nju.edu.cn)
  Tao Li (taoli@nju.edu.cn)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1038/s41377-025-02099-z
  CLC：
- Received：06 May 2025，
  
  Revised：2025-09-22，
  
  Accepted：13 October 2025，
  
  Online First：20 January 2026，
  
  Published：31 March 2026
- Accepted：
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Wang, J. Y. et al. Plan meta-objective for sub-micron quantitative phase imaging. Light: Science & Applications, 15, 804-813 (2026).
DOI：

Wang, J. Y. et al. Plan meta-objective for sub-micron quantitative phase imaging. Light: Science & Applications, 15, 804-813 (2026). DOI： 10.1038/s41377-025-02099-z.

摘要

Abstract

Quantitative phase imaging (QPI) provides valuable objective insights for investigating transparent samples

yet miniaturizing QPI systems without compromising performance remains a critical challenge for applications requiring compactness and portability. Here

by introducing partially coherent illumination modulation

together with a plan meta-objective (PMO) design

we present a compact QPI system with sub-micron resolution. The PMO is a monolithically integrated doublet metalens with its dispersion enabling focal shifts at two wavelengths

obviating the need for mechanical translations during image acquisition for phase retrieval. The PMO is also optimized to correct for monochromatic aberrations

delivering an object-side field of view equivalent to ~90% of the lens aperture with minimal distortion and aberrations. The spatial coherence of the illumination is controlled to enhance imaging resolution. By co-designing illumination and imaging systems

we demonstrate QPI achieving a half-pitch lateral resolution of 488 nm with a phase accuracy of 0.06λ. Our approach enables high-quality QPI analysis of diverse phase objects

including unstained biospecimens

laying the foundation for the development of compact

stable

and practical QPI platforms.

关键词

Keywords

references

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