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New Tech Produces 300 Ultra-Thin Metalenses Every Second, Could Replace Bulky Cameras

In a major step toward the future of optics, a collaborative team of researchers has developed a powerful new manufacturing system that can produce 300 metalenses every second. This achievement marks a turning point in bringing advanced metasurface technology out of the laboratory and into real-world industrial use.

The study, published in the prestigious journal Nature, highlights how scientists have solved one of the biggest challenges in modern optics: how to manufacture high-performance metalenses quickly, affordably, and at large scale.

What Are Metalenses?

Metalenses are a new type of optical device that could replace traditional lenses. Unlike the thick, curved glass lenses used in cameras, microscopes, and eyeglasses, metalenses are flat, ultra-thin, and incredibly lightweight.

They are made of tiny structures, smaller than the wavelength of light, arranged in precise patterns. These nanostructures can control light in highly sophisticated ways—adjusting its direction, intensity, and even its polarization. Because of this, metalenses can perform complex optical tasks while being only a fraction of the size of conventional lenses.

This makes them ideal for future technologies such as compact smartphones, lightweight AR/VR headsets, advanced sensors, and even space devices.

The Manufacturing Challenge

Despite their huge potential, metalenses have faced a major roadblock: mass production.

Traditional manufacturing methods, like electron beam lithography, are extremely precise but also slow, expensive, and limited to small areas. This makes them impractical for large-scale industrial use.

For metalenses to become part of everyday technology, scientists needed a way to produce them:

  • Over large areas

  • At high speed

  • At low cost

  • Without losing quality or consistency

Until now, achieving all these goals at once seemed nearly impossible.

A Breakthrough Approach

To solve this problem, the research team led by Professors Gyoujin Cho and Inki Kim at Sungkyunkwan University, along with Professor Junsuk Rho at POSTECH, developed a fully automated roll-to-roll manufacturing system.

This system works somewhat like a high-tech printing press. Instead of printing ink on paper, it continuously creates nanoscale patterns on flexible materials.

The process begins with a 12-inch silicon master stamp, which contains the original metalens design. This master is created using advanced lithography techniques and then replicated multiple times.

The real innovation comes from the use of roll-to-roll nanoimprint lithography, a method that allows continuous production. The system can imprint extremely fine features—down to just 80 nanometers—onto a moving flexible surface.

And the speed is astonishing:

  • One 12-inch mold every 1.5 seconds

  • Equivalent to 300 metalenses per second

This is about 100 times faster than traditional methods.

Lower Cost, Higher Efficiency

Another key innovation is the use of a flexible polymer mold instead of the traditional metal-based molds.

In older systems, manufacturers relied on electroformed nickel molds, which are expensive and time-consuming to produce. The new approach replaces these with lightweight, flexible molds made using UV-curable resin on a PET (plastic) base.

This change offers several advantages:

  • Faster production of molds

  • Lower manufacturing costs

  • Easier scalability

  • Reduced material waste

In simple terms, it makes the entire process more practical for industrial use.

Enhancing Performance

After the metalenses are formed, they are coated with a thin layer of titanium dioxide (TiO₂) using a process called atomic layer deposition (ALD).

This step improves the optical performance of the lenses, allowing them to efficiently control visible light. Importantly, ALD is already widely used in industry, making it compatible with large-scale production.

Record-Breaking Production Scale

In a remarkable demonstration, the team successfully produced 200-meter-long arrays of metalenses.

Even more impressive, these lenses maintained:

  • High optical quality

  • Consistent performance

  • Strong uniformity across the entire length

This proves that the technology is not just fast, but also reliable—an essential requirement for real-world applications.

Why This Matters

This breakthrough could transform the future of optics and electronics.

By making metalenses cheap and scalable, industries can begin integrating them into everyday devices such as:

  • Smartphone cameras

  • Medical imaging tools

  • Autonomous vehicle sensors

  • Augmented and virtual reality systems

  • Compact satellites and space instruments

Because metalenses are so thin and lightweight, they can significantly reduce the size and weight of optical systems while improving performance.

A Step Toward Everyday Metasurfaces

According to Professor Kim, metasurfaces have long been considered a powerful platform for next-generation optics, but manufacturing limitations have held them back.

With this new system, that barrier is finally breaking.

The researchers also believe that production speed can be increased even further by:

  • Using larger rollers

  • Optimizing mold design

  • Improving system efficiency

In the future, if this roll-to-roll approach is also applied to mold production itself, the cost of each metalens could become almost negligible.

The Road Ahead

This innovation opens the door to the commercialization of metasurface-based devices, often called metaphotonic technologies.

For years, scientists have demonstrated the incredible capabilities of metasurfaces in research labs. Now, for the first time, there is a clear path to bringing these technologies into mass production.

This could lead to a new generation of optical devices that are:

  • Smaller

  • Faster

  • Cheaper

  • More powerful

Conclusion

The ability to manufacture 300 metalenses per second is more than just a technical achievement—it is a major leap toward the future of optical technology.

By solving the long-standing challenge of scalable production, this research brings metalenses closer to everyday use. From smartphones to space exploration, the impact of this breakthrough could be felt across countless industries.

What was once a promising laboratory concept is now on the verge of becoming a mainstream technology—and that could reshape how we see and interact with the world.

Reference: Hoang, T., Park, Y., Kim, J. et al. 300-unit-per-second roll-to-roll manufacturing of visible metalenses. Nature (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10369-y

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