Consumer electronic optics: how small a lens can be using metasurfaces

Miniature optics are used in many applications and particularly in consumer optics for such products as webcams, mobile phones, automotive components, endoscopes, tablets, and many other connected devices. Mobile phone cameras are probably the ones that have driven the race for shorter TTL over the past 10 years. Ten years ago, cell phone cameras were composed of 3-4 optical plastic elements within one camera lens; today it takes more than 6 optical elements to obtain mega pixel resolution. But it is still not enough. The market has an insatiable appetite for greater optical performance. Consequently, the lens system has become more complex and now may require more optical elements with more complex optical functions. In this context, can the metasurface lens play a role? In this paper, we will try to address this question and discuss how metasurfaces promise to become a game changer in the consumer electronics market.