Long wavelength infrared metalens fabricated by photolithography

Metasurfaces in the long wave infrared(LWIR)spectrum hold great potential for applications in ther-mal imaging,atmospheric remote sensing,and target identification,among others.In this study,we designed and experimentally demonstrated a 4 mm size,all-silicon metasurface metalens with large depth of focus opera-tional across a broadband range from 9µm to 11.5µm.The experimental results confirm effective focusing and imaging capabilities of the metalens in LWIR region,thus paving the way for practical LWIR applications of met-alens technology.

Vein visualization enhancement by dual-wavelength phase-locked denoising technology

Visual near-infrared imaging equipment has broad applications in various fields such as venipuncture,facial injections,and safety verification due to its noncontact,compact,and portable design.Currently,most studies utilize near-infrared single-wavelength for image acquisition of veins.However,many substances in the skin,including water,protein,and melanin can create significant background noise,which hinders accurate detection.In this paper,we developed a dual-wavelength imaging system with phase-locked denoising technology to acquire vein image.The signals in the effective region are compared by using the absorption valley and peak of hemoglobin at 700nm and 940nm,respectively.The phase-locked denoising algorithm is applied to decrease the noise and interference of complex surroundings from the images.The imaging results of the vein are successfully extracted in complex noise environment.It is demonstrated that the denoising effect on hand veins imaging can be improved with 57.3%by using our dual-wavelength phase-locked denoising technology.Consequently,this work proposes a novel approach for venous imaging with dual-wavelengths and phase-locked denoising algorithm to extract venous imaging results in complex noisy environment better.

Breakthrough in enclosed aquatic ecosystems in space:Supporting zebrafish survival for 43 days

In June 2024,the China space station’s closed aquatic ecosystem(CSS’s CAES)achieved a remarkable feat:zebrafish completed their life stages,from growth to development and reproduction,in 43 days,setting a new record for space ecological experiments.Thismilestone not onlymeans progress inChina’s space ecosystem technology but also provides valuable data and technical support for closed-loop ecosystems in space missions.

Coupled Tamm plasmon polaritons induced narrow bandpass filter with ultra-wide stopband

Narrow bandpass filters(NBPFs)play important roles in optics,such as quantum communication,spectrometer,and wavelength division multiplexing.However,the stopband and restraint ability of traditional NBPFs is limited.In this article,a coupled Tamm plasmon polaritons(TPPs)induced transmission theory has been proposed to design high-efficiency NBPFs with ultra-wide deep stopbands.An NBPF at 1.55 μm has been experimentally demonstrated with full width at half maximum(FWHM)of 10 nm and stopband ranging from 0.2 to 25 μm which is 62 times wider than that of traditional ones.Furthermore,the restraint depth of the stopband reaches 0.03%,which is only 1/20 of a traditional filter with the same FWHM.Its advantage in restraining ambient light over traditional ones has also been demonstrated with an InGaAs infrared detector.It provides a very powerful way to capture specific narrowband optical signals from ultra-wide strong ambient light,especially useful for daytime quantum communications.

Artificial Structural Colors and Applications

Structural colors are colors generated by the interaction between incident light and nanostructures.Structural colors have been studied for decades due to their promising advantages of long-term stability and environmentally friendly properties compared with conventional pigments and dyes.Previous studies have demonstrated many artificial structural colors inspired by naturally generated colors from plants and animals.Moreover,many strategies consisting of different principles have been reported to achieve dynamically tunable structural colors.Furthermore,the artificial structural colors can have multiple functions besides decoration,such as absorbing solar energy,anti-counterfeiting,and information encryption.In the present work,we reviewed the typical artificial structural colors generated by multilayer films,photonic crystals,and metasurfaces according to the type of structures,and discussed the approaches to achieve dynamically tunable structural colors.

Interference-aided spectrum-fitting method for accurate film thickness determination

A new approach is proposed to accurately determine the thickness of films, especially for ultra-thin films,through spectrum-fitting with the assistance of an interference layer. The determination limit can reach even less than 1 nm. Its accuracy is far better than that of the traditional methods. This determination method is verified by experiments, and the determination limit is at least 3.5 nm compared with the results of atomic force microscope（AFM）. Furthermore, a double interference-aided spectra fitting method is proposed to reduce the requirements of the determination instruments, which thus allows one to determine the film＇s thickness with a low-precision common spectrometer and to greatly lower the cost. It is a very high-precision determination method for on-site and in-situ applications, especially for ultra-thin films.