MetaOptics Design: From Single Surfaces to Co-Optimized Systems

Meta-surfaces have come a long way from a small lab demo to now being used in smartphones and other consumer electronics. The design and manufacturing methods for metaoptics are growing more advanced in parallel to the market adaptation.

While metasurfaces excel at controlling optical wavefronts and polarization with a minimum size. Designers need to take into account the diffractive effects such as zeroth order and spectral shifts.

In this seminar we’ll show how to design metaoptical systems from single meta-atoms to systems of multiple metasurfaces. The wave effects of sub-wavelength structure on imaging and other system performance is modeled by multi-scale simulations. Simultaneously process design kits, PDKs, allow for direct manufacturer compatible metalens design. These developments mean that leveraging the strengths of flat and compact metaoptics is now broadly accessible.

About the presenter
Lieven Penninck, Ph.D., is an expert on optical modelling methods focusing on meta-surfaces and nano-photonics. In 2019 he founded PlanOpSim to develop and offer numerical simulation software for the design of metasurfaces, metalenses, and planar optics.

Aside from software development, PlanOpSim also provides optical design services to the photonics and optics industry. He holds a doctorate in photonics engineering from Ghent University on development of simulation methods for OLED and liquid crystal devices.

Outside of academia, he worked on LCD display research & development, along with simulation and measurement of OLEDs and solar cells in various roles.