{
  "abstract": "Conventional nanophotonic color routers are typically optimized under idealized, normal plane waves. However, this standard assumption fails in real-world imaging-system environments, where structures are illuminated by converging light cones and field-dependent chief-ray angles. Here, we present an imaging-system-aware, end-to-end inverse-design framework that directly maximizes the mutual imaging information $\\Iimg$ preserved by a single-layer silicon nitride color router under realistic pupil illumination. By analytically embedding the optimal reconstruction decoder directly inside the gradient loop, we co-design the optical nanostructures and the digital recovery pipeline. To scale this approach across a full sensor, we exploit the $D_4$ symmetry of the square pixel lattice, tiling $48$ distinct sensor-field regions using only six unique lithographic masks. Our optimized router is predicted to collect $2.8\\times$ more photoelectrons than a conventional color-filter array. Consequently, under low-light conditions, below a green-site signal-to-noise ratio of $13.7$~dB, the color router preserves superior image information compared to the color-filter array; evaluated from its measured routing fractions together with the modeled throughput, the fabricated device reproduces this crossover at $11.1^{+2.1}_{-2.3}$~dB. This marks the first experimental demonstration, from measured routing and a modeled throughput, of a single-layer nanophotonic color router achieving a performance crossover against the color-filter array. These results establish that next-generation flat optics must shift from isolated device efficiency toward system-level co-design optimized under physical imaging-system-pupil geometry.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2608.13019",
  "author_total": 4,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Hyoseok Park"
    },
    {
      "name": "Sehyeon Park"
    },
    {
      "name": "Myungjae Lee"
    },
    {
      "name": "Yeonsang Park"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/cbn2rrrggz7cz.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2608.13019",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "cbn2rrrggz7cz",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.13019",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "LicenseRef-arXiv-nonexclusive-1.0",
  "licence_label": "arXiv licence",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "physics.optics"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2504|Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7203441592",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2608.13019",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-08-29",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/cbn2rrrggz7cz.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:41Z",
      "native_id": "2608.13019",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.13019"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:physics.optics",
      "subfield": "optics-photonics"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Imaging-system-aware color routers optimized for imaging information",
  "title_text": "Imaging-system-aware color routers optimized for imaging information",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:17:41Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/cbn2rrrggz7cz",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}