High resolution meta-stereomicroscope based on birefringent meta-optics

Abstract

Achieving both high lateral and high depth resolution is a longstanding goal in stereomicroscopy. Although meta-optics have revolutionized lens design by alleviating the physical constraints of conventional optical architectures, existing metalens-assisted stereomicroscopes still suffer from field of view (FOV) mismatch between meta-optical and conventional optical components in stereomicroscopes, thereby limiting their imaging performance. Here, we show that this mismatch can be fundamentally eliminated through a fully meta-optical architecture. The integrated system enables flexible control of numerical aperture and magnification with larger depth of field (DOF) and FOV than those of the metalens-assisted stereomicroscopes. Experimentally, we achieve an integrated meta-stereomicroscope with a lateral resolution of 435 nm, surpassing the performance of previously reported stereomicroscopes. Empowered by a stereo neural network, the system enables straightforward reconstruction of high-resolution three-dimensional surface morphology with a depth resolution of 1026 nm, demonstrating the capability to simultaneously achieve high lateral and depth resolution imaging. This integrated architecture operates in both transmission and reflection modes for biomedical imaging and industrial inspection, highlighting its broad applicability for real-time observation across biomedical and industrial scenarios.