Metalenses, nano-artificial structures capable of manipulating light, offer a technology that can significantly reduce the size and thickness of traditional optical components. Particularly effective in the near-infrared region, this technology holds great promise for various applications such as LiDAR which is called the 'eyes of the self-driving car', miniature drones, and blood vessel detectors. Despite its potential, the current technology requires tens of millions of won even for fabricating a metalens the size of a fingernail, posing a challenge for commercialization. Fortunately, a recent breakthrough shows promise of reducing its production cost by one thousandth of the price.
A collaborative research team (POSCO-POSTECH-RIST Convergence Research Team), comprising Professors Junsuk Rho from the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Department of Chemical Engineering and PhD candidates Seong-Won Moon and Joohoon Kim from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), and Professor Heon Lee, Chanwoong Park, and Wonjoong Kim from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Korea University, has proposed two innovative methods for mass-producing metalenses and manufacturing them on large surfaces. Their research featured in Laser & Photonics Reviews, an international journal in optics and applied physics.
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