Low f-Number Diffraction-Limited Pancharatnam–Berry Microlenses Enabled by Plasmonic Photopatterning of Liquid Crystal Polymers

Microlenses are desired by a wide range of industrial applications while it is always challenging to make them with diffraction-limited quality. Here, it is shown that high-quality microlenses based on Pancharatnam–Berry (PB) phases can be made with liquid crystal polymers by using a plasmonic photopatterning technique. Based on the generalized Snell's law for the PB phases, PB microlenses with a range of focal lengths and f-numbers are designed and fabricated and their point-spread functions and ability to image micrometer-sized particles are carefully characterized. The results show that these PB microlenses with f-number down to 2 are all diffraction-limited. The capability of arraying these PB microlenses with 100% filling factor with a step-and-flash approach is further demonstrated.