Super-resolution imaging with an achromatic multi-level diffractive microlens array

Compound eyes found in insects provide intriguing sources of biological inspiration for miniaturized imaging systems. Inspired by such insect eye structures, we demonstrate an ultrathin arrayed camera enabled by a flat multi-level diffractive microlens array for super-resolution visible imaging. We experimentally demonstrate that the microlens array can achieve a large fill factor (hexagonal close packing with pitch=120µm), thickness of 2.6 µm, and diffraction-limited (Strehlratio=0.88) achromatic performance in the visible band (450 to 650 nm). We also demonstrate super-resolution imaging with resolution improvement of ∼1.4 times by computationally merging 1600 images in the array.