Monolithic topological honeycomb lens for achromatic focusing and imaging

Wavelength dispersion is a universal phenomenon in refractive optics that degrades optical performances. Current mitigation methods are being greatly challenged by the demanding requirements of miniaturization, low aberrations, high throughput, and accurate manufacture. Here, we propose an unconventional monolithic honeycomb-like lens concept with topological degrees of design freedom, capable of near diffraction-limited achromatic performance. To automate the design process, a methodological framework is presented that directly evolves the honeycomb lens from a flat window, instead of a knowledge-based starting geometry. The honeycomb lens performance at the full field of view is remarkably better than either traditional aspheric lenses or commercial cascaded lenses. It also overcomes limitations of flat metalenses, which have extremely small aperture sizes and suffer from multi-order aberrations. This topological honeycomb lens concept may pave the way to inexpensive and compact achromatic optics for focusing and imaging applications in consumer cameras, wearable optics, virtual reality, etc. (C) 2022 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement