  In conventional optical microscopes, image contrast of objects mainly results
from the differences in light intensity and/or color. Muller matrix optical
microscopes (MMMs), on the other hand, can provide significantly enhanced image
contrast and rich information about objects by analyzing their interactions
with polarized light. However, state-of-art MMMs are fundamentally limited by
bulky and slow polarization state generators and analyzers. Here, we
demonstrated the feasibility of applying metasurfaces to enable a fast and
compact MMM, i.e., Meta-MMM. We developed a dual-color MMM, in both reflection
and transmission modes, based on a chip-integrated high-speed (>20fps)
metasurface polarization state analyzer (Meta-PSA) and realized high
measurement accuracy for Muller matrix (MM) imaging. We then applied our
Meta-MMM to nanostructure characterization, surface morphology analysis and
discovered birefringent structures in honeybee wings. Our meta-MMMs hold the
promise to revolutionize various applications from biological imaging, medical
diagnosis, material characterization to industry inspection and space
exploration.
