A metalens without chromatic aberration has been developed that can secure a wide field of view without image distortion, and is expected to contribute to the development of various optical systems, such as XR wearable devices, in the future.

Samsung Electronics and POSTECH recently succeeded in developing an ‘achromatic metalens’ without chromatic aberration through industry-academia cooperation. It was also demonstrated that various optical aberrations can be compensated for when combined with a holographic display.

The research paper on the 'achromatic metalens' conducted this time was published in the world-renowned academic journal 'Nature Materials'.

This project was led by Dr. Seok-il Moon of Samsung Research at Samsung Electronics and Professor Jun-seok Noh of POSTECH, with researchers Min-seok Choi, Joo-hoon Kim, and Gil-su Shin of POSTECH participating as co-first authors.

The research team succeeded in eliminating chromatic aberration by improving the design method of existing metalens and developing an algorithm that takes into account the interrelationships between all metastructures.

As a result, the lens size can be increased by 3 to 5 times compared to existing models while maintaining a thin thickness, providing a wide field of view.

Additionally, the image quality has been further improved while maintaining the focal power of the metalens.

This research is expected to make a significant contribution to the development of next-generation displays as it is a technology that can drastically reduce the size and weight of lenses.

A metalens is a flat lens composed of nano-sized structures that can control the diffraction of light, and has the advantage of being able to dramatically reduce size and thickness compared to conventional convex optical lenses.

On the other hand, there was a limitation that the image would be distorted due to large chromatic aberration.

Chromatic aberration is a phenomenon in which different wavelengths of light are bent in different directions when passing through a lens, causing the colors of an image to blur.

This research is expected to be utilized in XR wearable devices and various optical systems that provide compact yet high-quality images.

Combining a single achromatic metalens with a holographic display allows for a wide field of view without image distortion, without having to combine multiple lenses.

In particular, it can be used in various optical systems such as general displays, cameras, and sensors as well as XR devices by providing virtual images that are small, light, and cause less fatigue.