{
  "abstract": "Snapshot hyperspectral imaging maps a spatial--spectral datacube onto a two-dimensional detector, with recoverability depending on the datacube sampling regime, the scene prior, and the optical encoding. We study this co-dependence with algorithmic recovery and optical design optimization in a differentiable metasurface model by varying the spatial--spectral ratio and comparing average-coherence, mutual-information, and end-to-end objectives. For compressed imaging with three bands, optimization of single-parameter dielectric pillars produces lens-like designs with overlapping wavelength-dependent point-spread functions across the objectives tested. End-to-end reconstruction can mask this collapse on restricted training distributions, showing that reconstruction fidelity depends jointly on the optical encoding and scene prior. For simple nano-pillar meta-atom geometries, the optimized singular-value spectrum deteriorates as the datacube becomes more spectrally dominated, whereas a relaxed model with independent complex transmission at each wavelength reduces this dependence. These results identify restricted wavelength-dependent transmission control in the pillar library as an important contributor to the observed spectral collapse. This motivates an illustrative local super-pixel spectrometer model in which spectral encoding is studied separately from global image formation under a plane-wave illumination approximation.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2609.28450",
  "author_total": 3,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Liam Fitzpatrick"
    },
    {
      "name": "Sean Molesky"
    },
    {
      "name": "Kai Wang"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/d6yj9wvjpepjr.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2609.28450",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "d6yj9wvjpepjr",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.28450",
  "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": "W7214223602",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2609.28450",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-23",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/d6yj9wvjpepjr.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:23:56Z",
      "native_id": "2609.28450",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.28450"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:physics.optics",
      "subfield": "optics-photonics"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Spatial-Spectral Trade-offs in Metasurface-Based Snapshot Hyperspectral Imaging",
  "title_text": "Spatial-Spectral Trade-offs in Metasurface-Based Snapshot Hyperspectral Imaging",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:23:56Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/d6yj9wvjpepjr",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}