Metasurface-Empowered Five-Dimensional Imaging with Structured Light

Beyond traditional two-dimensional (2D) imaging, additional optical dimensions, such as depth, spectrum, and polarization, provide crucial information for various complex tasks. However, the extension of multiple dimensions typically leads to a complex imaging system, severely hindering its widespread application. Here, a metasurface-empowered five-dimensional (5D) imaging system with structured light is experimentally designed and constructed by wavelength and polarization information fusion into holographic structured light. Cooperating with the dispersion of holography, a polarization-maintaining metasurface is optimized to encode specific wavelengths and polarizations into a holographic structured light, generating 5D illumination for imaging. The 3D spatial information is reconstructed from 2D feature point positions, while wavelength and polarization information are retrieved from point intensities, resulting in compact and convenient 5D imaging. By integrating multiple optical dimensions into an illumination device, such a structured light 5D imaging scheme potentially paves the way for tremendous advances in multidimensional imaging technology and its myriad applications.