Endoscopes are an important component for the development of minimally invasive surgeries.Their size is one of the most critical aspects,because smaller and less rigid endoscopes enable higher agility,facilitate large...Endoscopes are an important component for the development of minimally invasive surgeries.Their size is one of the most critical aspects,because smaller and less rigid endoscopes enable higher agility,facilitate larger accessibility,and induce less stress on the surrounding tissue.In all existing endoscopes,the size of the optics poses a major limitation in miniaturization of the imaging system.Not only is making small optics difficult,but their performance also degrades with downscaling.Meta-optics have recently emerged as a promising candidate to drastically miniaturize optics while achieving similar functionalities with significantly reduced size.Herein,we report an inverse-designed meta-optic,which combined with a coherent fiber bundle enables a 33%reduction in the rigid tip length over traditional gradient-index(GRIN)lenses.We use the meta-optic fiber endoscope(MOFIE)to demonstrate real-time video capture in full visible color,the spatial resolution of which is primarily limited by the fiber itself.Our work shows the potential of meta-optics for integration and miniaturization of biomedical devices towards minimally invasive surgery.展开更多
基金supported by NSF-GCR-2120774the National Science Foundation via awards NNCI-1542101 and NNCI-2025489.
文摘Endoscopes are an important component for the development of minimally invasive surgeries.Their size is one of the most critical aspects,because smaller and less rigid endoscopes enable higher agility,facilitate larger accessibility,and induce less stress on the surrounding tissue.In all existing endoscopes,the size of the optics poses a major limitation in miniaturization of the imaging system.Not only is making small optics difficult,but their performance also degrades with downscaling.Meta-optics have recently emerged as a promising candidate to drastically miniaturize optics while achieving similar functionalities with significantly reduced size.Herein,we report an inverse-designed meta-optic,which combined with a coherent fiber bundle enables a 33%reduction in the rigid tip length over traditional gradient-index(GRIN)lenses.We use the meta-optic fiber endoscope(MOFIE)to demonstrate real-time video capture in full visible color,the spatial resolution of which is primarily limited by the fiber itself.Our work shows the potential of meta-optics for integration and miniaturization of biomedical devices towards minimally invasive surgery.
