Phase-shifting structured illumination with polarization-encoded metasurface

TL;DR

This paper introduces a polarization-controlled dielectric metasurface that generates phase-shifting fringe patterns for structured illumination, enabling compact, stable, and integrated 3D imaging systems without mechanical parts.

Contribution

It presents a novel static metasurface device that encodes multiple phase shifts for structured illumination, improving compactness and robustness over traditional mechanically driven systems.

Findings

Successfully demonstrated high-quality fringe generation

Applied in a 3D surface measurement system

Achieved a millimeter-scale, integrated device

Abstract

Phase-shifting structured illumination is a powerful technique used across diverse imaging modalities, including 3D surface measurement, quantitative phase imaging, and super-resolution microscopy. However, conventional implementations often rely on mechanically driven or optoelectronically complex systems, limiting their compactness, stability, and integration. Here, we present a polarization-controlled dielectric metasurface that generates phase-shifting fringe patterns in the visible spectrum, enabling compact and robust structured light projection. The metasurface encodes distinct phase gratings for orthogonal polarizations, producing fringe patterns with relative lateral displacements that vary according to the polarization of the transmitted light. We experimentally demonstrate high-quality fringe generation and apply the structured illumination in a fringe projection profilometry system for 3D surface measurement of different objects. The metasurface integrates multiple phase-shifting steps into a single static device, offering a millimeter-scale footprint and compatibility with polarization multiplexing. This approach introduces a compact, passive solution for structured light generation with broad potential in next-generation optical metrology and advanced computational imaging.