MetaSpectra+: A Compact Broadband Metasurface Camera for Snapshot Hyperspectral+ Imaging

CVPR 2026
Purdue University
* Equal contribution

Abstract

We present MetaSpectra+, a compact multifunctional camera that supports two operating modes: (1) snapshot HDR + hyperspectral or (2) snapshot polarization + hyperspectral imaging. It utilizes a novel metasurface-refractive assembly that splits the incident beam into multiple channels and independently controls each channel’s dispersion, exposure, and polarization. Unlike prior multifunctional metasurface imagers restricted to narrow (10--100 nm) bands, MetaSpectra+ operates over nearly the entire visible spectrum (250 nm). Relative to snapshot hyperspectral imagers, it achieves the shortest total track length and the highest reconstruction accuracy on benchmark datasets. The demonstrated prototype reconstructs high-quality hyperspectral datacubes and either an HDR image or two orthogonal polarization channels from a single snapshot.

Image Formation

We achieve snapshot hyperspectral imaging by simultaneously acquiring four measurements: two dispersive images that encode spectral information and two achromatic images that provide structural guidance. The system employs a two-layer metasurface and a refractive lens to decouple dispersion control from focusing.

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Specifically, the first metasurface splits the incident light into four symmetric optical channels by multiplexing the linear phase profiles associated with the four channels onto a single surface through a random-interleaving strategy, introducing angular dispersion to the system. A second metasurface is then placed at the corresponding channel locations to further impose distinct linear phase modulations on each channel, so as to partially or fully compensate for the deflection introduced by the first layer. As a result, two channels preserve dispersion along two orthogonal directions to encode spectral information, while the other two channels produce achromatic images to retain spatial structure.

Prototype

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Experimental Results

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