Graphene metalens for integrated particle nanotracking

Particle nanotracking (PNT) is highly desirable in lab-on-a-chip systems for flexible and convenient multiparameter measurement. An ultrathin flat lens is the preferred imaging device in such a system, with the advantage of high focusing performance and compactness. However, PNT using ultrathin flat lenses has not been demonstrated so far because PNT requires the clear knowledge of the relationship between the object and image in the imaging system. Such a relationship still remains elusive in ultrathin flat lens-based imaging systems because they operate based on diffraction rather than refraction. In this paper, we experimentally reveal the imaging relationship of a graphene metalens using nanohole arrays with micrometer spacing. The distance relationship between the object and image as well as the magnification ratio is acquired with nanometer accuracy. The measured imaging relationship agrees well with the theoretical prediction and is expected to be applicable to other ultrathin flat lenses based on the diffraction principle. By analyzing the high-resolution images from the graphene metalens using the imaging relationship, 3D trajectories of particles with high position accuracy in PNT have been achieved. The revealed imaging relationship for metalenses is essential in designing different types of integrated optical systems, including digital cameras, microfluidic devices, virtual reality devices, telescopes, and eyeglasses, and thus will find broad applications.