Photonic slide rule: Simultaneous resolving of wavelength and polarization state

Mid-wavelength infrared (MWIR) is a unique regime with various potential applications in fingerprint detections. It is also one of three atmospheric transmission windows that shows significant possibilities in low-light-level night vision and free-space communications. The accurate detection of unknown photons in this band plays an indispensable role in aeronautics and astronautics applications. However, with the conventional bulky measurement setup with many cascaded optical elements or metasur...