Wavefront Engineering for Scintillation-Based Imaging

TL;DR

This paper explores how wavefront control via nanophotonics and metasurfaces can improve scintillation-based imaging by reducing image blurring and enabling advanced detection strategies, despite fundamental limitations.

Contribution

It introduces wavefront engineering strategies specifically tailored for scintillation imaging, highlighting potential improvements and new avenues such as stacked scintillators and energy-dependent imaging.

Findings

Wavefront control can mitigate image blurring in scintillation imaging.

Stacked scintillators and spatial-frequency enhancement are promising techniques.

Wavefront engineering offers tailored detection strategies despite fundamental limitations.

Abstract

Recent research in nanophotonics for scintillation-based imaging has demonstrated promising improvements in scintillator performance. In parallel, advances in nanophotonics have enabled wavefront control through metasurfaces, a capability that has transformed fields such as microscopy by allowing tailored control of optical propagation. This naturally raises the following question, which we address in this perspective: can wavefront-control strategies be leveraged to improve scintillation-based imaging? To answer this question, we explore nanophotonic- and metasurface-enabled wavefront control in scintillators to mitigate image blurring arising from their intrinsically diffuse light emission. While depth-of-field extension in scintillation faces fundamental limitations absent in microscopy, this approach reveals promising avenues, including stacked scintillators, selective spatial-frequency enhancement, and X-ray energy-dependent imaging. These results clarify the key distinctions in adapting wavefront engineering to scintillation and its potential to enable tailored detection strategies.