Optical apparatus and instruments, namely, metasurface lenses and polarization-sensitive optical elements integrated with image sensors for use in biometric facial recognition and identity authentication; biometric identity verification apparatus, namely, optical scanners and imaging sensors using polarized light for capturing facial biometric data; facial recognition hardware for consumer electronic devices; downloadable computer software and firmware for capturing, processing, and analyzing polarization-encoded facial biometric data for identity authentication and access control; downloadable computer software for operating and controlling polarization-sensitive image sensors for biometric authentication