Global Metalens Industry Growth and Trends Forecast to 2032

Definition

A metalens (metasurface lens) is a planar optical element formed by a two-dimensional array of subwavelength scatterers (“meta-atoms”) on a substrate that imposes a spatially varying complex optical response—phase, amplitude, and polarization—on incident waves to produce focusing or imaging. The optical power arises from engineered local phase delays based on geometric (Pancharatnam–Berry), propagation, or resonant phase rather than bulk curvature, yielding thicknesses far smaller than the focal length in transmissive or reflective configurations. Materials and stacks include high-index dielectric or metallic nanostructures in single- or multi-layer metasurfaces across ultraviolet to infrared bands. Dispersion and polarization characteristics are set by the meta-atom geometry and arrangement; achromatic, polarization-selective, and multifunction apertures are realized through wavefront and group-delay design defined lithographically. In terminology, “metalens” denotes a metasurface-based flat lens and is distinct from the negative-index “superlens” used for near-field sub-diffraction imaging.