Table 1 Comparison of commercial DIC, metasurface-based optical analog computing, optical imaging, and our i-DIC system

Commercial DIC

–

×

Amplitude and phase

Lens and birefringent prism

DIC imaging

Optical analog computing

Ref. ^16,19

√

Amplitude

4f^a

Frequency-___domain filtering (Fourier transform)

Ref. ^17,18

×

Amplitude

4f

Ref. ²⁰

√

Amplitude and phase

4f

Ref. ^21,22

√

Amplitude

2f^b

Ref. ^{25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33}

√

Amplitude

Single layer

Spatial-___domain filtering (Laplace transform)

Ref. ^23,24,34

×

Amplitude

Single layer

Ref. ^35,36,37

√

Amplitude

Multilayer thin film

Optical imaging

Ref. ³⁸

√

Amplitude and phase

4f

PC imaging

Ref. ³⁹

√

Amplitude and phase

Single layer(2f)

Ref. ⁴⁰

×

Amplitude and phase

Double layers

QPGM imaging

Ref. ⁴¹

×

Amplitude and phase

4f

FOSSM imaging

Ref. ⁴²

-

Phase

4f

MS-TIE

√

Amplitude and phase

Single layer(2f)

i-DIC imaging