Integrated metaoptics for super-resolved imaging

The focal field in incoherent imaging systems is undersampled by conventional focal planes. The field contains multidimensional coherence, spectral, polarization, and focal information that cannot be captured by uniform irradiance sampling. Metaoptics integrated on the focal plane offer a path to sampling diversity to overcome this mismatch. Here we describe modal and coherence models of the focal field; we discuss how metaoptics in the near field of the focal plane enable novel sampling, and we describe sampling strategies and sampling metrics. We consider in particular how modal diversity can improve sensor information capacity, MTF, and resolution. Finally, we consider how these strategies impact the roadmap to gigapixel and terapixel cameras.