Wavefront Engineering for Scintillation-Based Imaging

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.