Image slicers are now common equipment in integral field spectrographs (IFSes) to detect and analyze distant galaxies and extra-solar planets. However, tilted surfaces cause vignetting between adjacent slices and off-axis optical aberrations. In this paper, we explore how the flexibility of metasurfaces can be used by adjusting the surface phases on single glass planes and mirrors. Therefore, each slice can be defined by its nanopillar spatial distribution, enabling control of slitlet positions and aberrations. We propose a conceptual design of a six-slices metasurface-based image slicer (MIS), optimized to operate in the J band (1.15-1.35 μm). In addition to resulting in diffraction-limited performance, the dispersion inherent to metasurfaces allows reaching a R = 2850 spectral resolving power in a short 273 mm-long design, with a transmission < 85%.
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