Broadband light bending with plasmonic nanoantennas

Acoustic Metagrating Holograms

Metasurface holograms represent a common category of metasurface devices that utilize in-plane phase gradients to shape wavefronts, forming holographic images through the application of the generalized Snell's law (GSL). While conventional metasurfaces focus solely on phase gradients, metagratings, which incorporate higher-order wave diffraction, further expand the GSL's generality. Recent advances in certain acoustic metagratings demonstrate an updated GSL extension capable of reversing anomalous transmission and reflection, whose reversal is characterized by the parity of the number of wave propagation trips through the metagrating. However, the current extension of GSL remains limited to 1D metagratings, unable to access 2D holographic images in 3D spaces. Here, the GSL extension to 2D metagratings for manipulating waves within 3D spaces is investigated. Through this analysis, a series of acoustic metagrating holograms is experimentally demonstrated. These holographic images exhibit the unique ability to switch between transmission and reflection types independently. This study introduces an additional dimension to modern holography design and metasurface wavefront manipulation.

All-Oxide Metasurfaces Formed by Synchronized Local Ionic Gating

Ionic gating of oxide thin films has emerged as a novel way of manipulating the properties of thin films. Most studies are carried out on single devices with a three-terminal configuration, but, by exploring the electrokinetics during the ionic gating, such a configuration with initially insulating films leads to a highly non-uniform gating response of individual devices within large arrays of the devices. It is shown that such an issue can be circumvented by the formation of a uniform charge potential by the use of a thin conducting underlayer. This synchronized local ionic gating allows for the simultaneous manipulation of the electrical, magnetic, and/or optical properties of large arrays of devices. Designer metasurfaces formed in this way from SrCoO2.5 thin films display an anomalous optical reflection of light that relies on the uniform and coherent response of all the devices. Beyond oxides, almost any material whose properties can be controlled by the addition or removal of ions via gating can form novel metasurfaces using this technique. These findings provide insights into the electrokinetics of ionic gating and a wide range of applications using synchronized local ionic gating.

Multi-Dimensional Multiplexed Metasurface Holography by Inverse Design

Multi-dimensional multiplexed metasurface holography extends holographic information capacity and promises revolutionary advancements for vivid imaging, information storage, and encryption. However, achieving multifunctional metasurface holography by forward design method is still difficult because it relies heavily on Jones matrix engineering, which places high demands on physical knowledge and processing technology. To break these limitations and simplify the design process, here, an end-to-end inverse design framework is proposed. By directly linking the metasurface to the reconstructed images and employing a loss function to guide the update of metasurface, the calculation of hologram can be omitted; thus, greatly simplifying the design process. In addition, the requirements on the completeness of meta-library can also be significantly reduced, allowing multi-channel hologram to be achieved using meta-atoms with only two degrees of freedom, which is very friendly to processing. By exploiting the proposed method, metasurface hologram containing up to 12 channels of multi-wavelength, multi-plane, and multi-polarization is designed and experimentally demonstrated, which exhibits the state-of-the-art information multiplexing capacity of the metasurface composed of simple meta-atoms. This method is conducive to promoting the intelligent design of multifunctional meta-devices, and it is expected to eventually accelerate the application of meta-devices in colorful display, imaging, storage and other fields.

Enhanced Broadband Manipulation of Acoustic Vortex Beams Using 3-bit Coding Metasurfaces through Topological Optimization

The acoustic coding metasurfaces (ACMs) have the ability to manipulate complex acoustic behavior by reconstructing the coding sequence. In particular, the design of broadband coding enhances the versatility of ACMs. ACMs offer significant advantages over traditional metasurfaces, including a limited number of units and flexible wave control performance. The unit quantity is determined by 2n, with 1-bit utilizing 2 units, 2-bit using 4 units, and 3-bit employing 8 units. Utilizing multiple bits allows for precise control over the phase of sound waves and enables the realization of more intricate acoustic functions. To address the requirements of broadband multi-bit applications, this paper presents the development of novel 3-bit broadband reflected acoustic coding metasurfaces (BACMs) with eight coding units. These metasurfaces are systematically designed using the bottom-up topology optimization method. A constant phase difference of 45° can be achieved across all eight coding units within a broad frequency range. Additionally, the spiral distribution of phase differences enables the construction of an acoustic vortex metasurface. Moreover, by combining the convolution method, the strategies are outlined for constructing vortex-focusing metasurfaces and vortex beam manipulation metasurfaces. These 3-bit coding metasurfaces possess significant potential in the fields of acoustic particle suspension and acoustic communication.

Complex-Amplitude Programmable Versatile Metasurface Platform Driven by Guided Wave

Metasurfaces have shown unparalleled controllability of electromagnetic (EM) waves. However, most of the metasurfaces need external spatial feeding sources, which renders practical implementation quite challenging. Here, a low-profile programmable metasurface with 0.05λ0 thickness driven by guided waves is proposed to achieve dynamic control of both amplitude and phase simultaneously. The metasurface is fed by a guided wave traveling in a substrate-integrated waveguide, avoiding external spatial sources and complex power divider networks. By manipulating the state of the p-i-n diodes embedded in each meta-atom, the proposed metasurface enables 1-bit amplitude switching between radiating and nonradiating states, as well as a 1-bit phase switching between 0° and 180°. As a proof of concept, two advanced functionalities, namely, low sidelobe-level beam scanning and Airy beam generation, are experimentally demonstrated with a single platform operating in the far- and near-field respectively. Such complex-amplitude, programmable, and low-profile metasurfaces can overcome integration limitations of traditional metasurfaces, and open up new avenues for more accurate and advanced EM wave control within an unprecedented degree of freedom.

Matte surfaces with broadband transparency enabled by highly asymmetric diffusion of white light

The long-standing paradox between matte appearance and transparency has deprived traditional matte materials of optical transparency. Here, we present a solution to this centuries-old optical conundrum by harnessing the potential of disordered optical metasurfaces. Through the construction of a random array of meta-atoms tailored in asymmetric backgrounds, we have created transparent matte surfaces that maintain clear transparency regardless of the strength of disordered light scattering or their matte appearances. This remarkable property originates in the achievement of highly asymmetric light diffusion, exhibiting substantial diffusion in reflection and negligible diffusion in transmission across the entire visible spectrum. By fabricating macroscopic samples of such metasurfaces through industrial lithography, we have experimentally demonstrated transparent windows camouflaged as traditional matte materials, as well as transparent displays with high clarity, full color, and one-way visibility. Our work introduces an unprecedented frontier of transparent matte materials in optics, offering unprecedented opportunities and applications.

Flexible Metasurfaces for Multifunctional Interfaces

Optical metasurfaces, capable of manipulating the properties of light with a thickness at the subwavelength scale, have been the subject of extensive investigation in recent decades. This research has been mainly driven by their potential to overcome the limitations of traditional, bulky optical devices. However, most existing optical metasurfaces are confined to planar and rigid designs, functions, and technologies, which greatly impede their evolution toward practical applications that often involve complex surfaces. The disconnect between two-dimensional (2D) planar structures and three-dimensional (3D) curved surfaces is becoming increasingly pronounced. In the past two decades, the emergence of flexible electronics has ushered in an emerging era for metasurfaces. This review delves into this cutting-edge field, with a focus on both flexible and conformal design and fabrication techniques. Initially, we reflect on the milestones and trajectories in modern research of optical metasurfaces, complemented by a brief overview of their theoretical underpinnings and primary classifications. We then showcase four advanced applications of optical metasurfaces, emphasizing their promising prospects and relevance in areas such as imaging, biosensing, cloaking, and multifunctionality. Subsequently, we explore three key trends in optical metasurfaces, including mechanically reconfigurable metasurfaces, digitally controlled metasurfaces, and conformal metasurfaces. Finally, we summarize our insights on the ongoing challenges and opportunities in this field.

Manipulation of path state based on spatiotemporal dielectric metasurface

In this work, a spatiotemporal metasurface is proposed to manipulate the path of photons flexibly. The spatial modulation is induced by the rectangle silicon units aligned on silica in a manner with a phase gradient only for y-polarized photons, and the temporal modulation is contributed by the pumps of constructing Kerr dynamic gratings. By quantizing designed metasurfaces, the analytical solutions of output photon states can be derived correspondingly. Reversal design could be implemented by tailoring the profile of higher harmonics to infer the intensity of pumps, size of meta-atoms, and initial state. The path-polarization entanglement and correlations of output photons are realized, and then a CNOT gate is obtained by utilizing the deflection of the photon path. This work provides a scheme to deal with the spatiotemporal metasurfaces and expands the applications of metasurfaces in the quantum realm.

Microsphere photolithography with dynamic angular spectra control for metasurface fabrication

Microsphere photolithography (MPL) is a promising technique for cost-effective fabrication of large-scale metasurfaces. This approach generates an array of photonic jets by the collimated illumination of self-assembled microspheres. The photonic jets can be precisely steered within the unit cell defined by each microsphere by changing the angle of incidence. This allows for the creation of complex metasurface element geometries. Computer controlled articulation of the substrate relative to a static UV source allows the direct-write of different metasurface elements. However, this is time-consuming and requires registration between each exposure for complex features. This paper investigates a single exposure method with the dynamic continuous angle of incidence control provided by a Digital Micromirror Device (DMD) in the front Fourier plane of the projection system. The grayscale values of the DMD pixels can be adjusted to provide optical proximity correction. Larger patterns can be achieved by scanning the substrate relative to the exposure beam. This approach is demonstrated with the creation of hierarchical patterns. This work greatly simplifies the MPL exposure process for complex resonators and provides potential for full light field control.

Interleaved coding Janus metasurface with independent transmission and reflection phase modulation

An interleaved coding Janus metasurface is proposed, which can generate bidirectional functionalities with full phase control of the reflected and transmitted waves. By introducing rotation and geometric parameter changes into the meta-atoms, the reflection and transmission channels with required energy distribution and foci are realized. More remarkably, our approach is based on a single metasurface design that arranges two types of unidirectional propagating unit structures with simultaneous desired reflection and transmission properties into a checkerboard configuration to obtain four different holograms. The results verify the excellent performances of the multifunctional metasurface, laying a foundation for manipulation of EM waves with more degree of freedom, and promoting its applications in the entire frequency spectrum.

Metasurface Holography with Multiplexing and Reconfigurability

Metasurface holography offers significant advantages, including a broad field of view, minimal noise, and high imaging quality, making it valuable across various optical domains such as 3D displays, VR, and color displays. However, most passive pure-structured metasurface holographic devices face a limitation: once fabricated, as their functionality remains fixed. In recent developments, the introduction of multiplexed and reconfigurable metasurfaces breaks this limitation. Here, the comprehensive progress in holography from single metasurfaces to multiplexed and reconfigurable metasurfaces is reviewed. First, single metasurface holography is briefly introduced. Second, the latest progress in angular momentum multiplexed metasurface holography, including basic characteristics, design strategies, and diverse applications, is discussed. Next, a detailed overview of wavelength-sensitive, angle-sensitive, and polarization-controlled holograms is considered. The recent progress in reconfigurable metasurface holography based on lumped elements is highlighted. Its instant on-site programmability combined with machine learning provides the possibility of realizing movie-like dynamic holographic displays. Finally, we briefly summarize this rapidly growing area of research, proposing future directions and potential applications.

All-optical geometric image transformations enabled by ultrathin metasurfaces

Image processing plays a vital role in artificial visual systems, which have diverse applications in areas such as biomedical imaging and machine vision. In particular, optical analog image processing is of great interest because of its parallel processing capability and low power consumption. Here, we present ultra-compact metasurfaces performing all-optical geometric image transformations, which are essential for image processing to correct image distortions, create special image effects, and morph one image into another. We show that our metasurfaces can realize binary image transformations by modifying the spatial relationship between pixels and converting binary images from Cartesian to log-polar coordinates with unparalleled advantages for scale- and rotation-invariant image preprocessing. Furthermore, we extend our approach to grayscale image transformations and convert an image with Gaussian intensity profile into another image with flat-top intensity profile. Our technique will potentially unlock new opportunities for various applications such as target tracking and laser manufacturing.

Recent Progress in Resonant Acoustic Metasurfaces

Acoustic metasurfaces, as two-dimensional acoustic metamaterials, are a current research topic for their sub-wavelength thickness and excellent acoustic wave manipulation. They hold significant promise in noise reduction and isolation, cloaking, camouflage, acoustic imaging, and focusing. Resonant structural units are utilized to construct acoustic metasurfaces with the unique advantage of controlling large wavelengths within a small size. In this paper, the recent research progresses of the resonant metasurfaces are reviewed, covering the design mechanisms and advances of structural units, the classification and application of the resonant metasurfaces, and the tunable metasurfaces. Finally, research interest in this field is predicted in future.

Omnidirectional broadband phase modulation by total internal reflection

Phase modulation plays a crucial role in shaping optical fields and physical optics. However, traditional phase modulation techniques are highly dependent on angles and wavelengths, limiting their applicability in smart optical systems. Here, we propose a first-principle theory for achieving constant phase modulation independent of incident angle and wavelength. By utilizing a hyperbolic metamaterial and engineering-specific optical parameters, different reflective phase jumps are achieved and tailored for both transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) waves. The aimed reflection phase difference between TE and TM waves can be thus achieved omnidirectionally and achromatically. As an example, we propose a perfect omnidirectional broadband reflection quarter wave plate. This work provides fundamental insights into manipulating optical phases through optical parameter engineering.

Photonic spin Hall effect driven broadband multi-focus dielectric metalens

The multi-focus metalens can couple the light into multiple channels in optical interconnections, which is beneficial to the development of planar, miniaturized, and integrated components. We propose broadband photonic spin Hall effect (PSHE) driven multi-focus metalenses, in which each nanobrick plays a positive role for all focal points. Three PSHE driven metalenses with four, six, and eight focal points have been designed and investigated, respectively. Under the incidences of left-/right-handed circularly polarized (LCP/RCP) light, these metalenses can generate regularly distributed two, three, and four RCP/LCP focal points, respectively. The uniformity of the focusing intensity has been investigated in detail by designing an additional four six-focus metalenses with different focus distributions. The uniqueness of these metalenses makes this design philosophy very attractive for applications in spin photonics, compact polarization detection, multi-imaging systems, and information processing systems.

A universal metasurface antenna to manipulate all fundamental characteristics of electromagnetic waves

Metasurfaces have promising potential to revolutionize a variety of photonic and electronic device technologies. However, metasurfaces that can simultaneously and independently control all electromagnetics (EM) waves' properties, including amplitude, phase, frequency, polarization, and momentum, with high integrability and programmability, are challenging and have not been successfully attempted. Here, we propose and demonstrate a microwave universal metasurface antenna (UMA) capable of dynamically, simultaneously, independently, and precisely manipulating all the constitutive properties of EM waves in a software-defined manner. Our UMA further facilitates the spatial- and time-varying wave properties, leading to more complicated waveform generation, beamforming, and direct information manipulations. In particular, the UMA can directly generate the modulated waveforms carrying digital information that can fundamentally simplify the architecture of information transmitter systems. The proposed UMA with unparalleled EM wave and information manipulation capabilities will spark a surge of applications from next-generation wireless systems, cognitive sensing, and imaging to quantum optics and quantum information science.

Recent advances in metasurface design and quantum optics applications with machine learning, physics-informed neural networks, and topology optimization methods

As a two-dimensional planar material with low depth profile, a metasurface can generate non-classical phase distributions for the transmitted and reflected electromagnetic waves at its interface. Thus, it offers more flexibility to control the wave front. A traditional metasurface design process mainly adopts the forward prediction algorithm, such as Finite Difference Time Domain, combined with manual parameter optimization. However, such methods are time-consuming, and it is difficult to keep the practical meta-atom spectrum being consistent with the ideal one. In addition, since the periodic boundary condition is used in the meta-atom design process, while the aperiodic condition is used in the array simulation, the coupling between neighboring meta-atoms leads to inevitable inaccuracy. In this review, representative intelligent methods for metasurface design are introduced and discussed, including machine learning, physics-information neural network, and topology optimization method. We elaborate on the principle of each approach, analyze their advantages and limitations, and discuss their potential applications. We also summarize recent advances in enabled metasurfaces for quantum optics applications. In short, this paper highlights a promising direction for intelligent metasurface designs and applications for future quantum optics research and serves as an up-to-date reference for researchers in the metasurface and metamaterial fields.

Systematic design method for generation, storage, and reconstruction of holographic images

Metasurface has extraordinary capability in the wavefront manipulation of electromagnetic waves, which provides an effective method for meta-holographic technology. However, holographic technology mostly focuses on the generation of the single-plane image, which lacks a systematic design method to generate, store, and reconstruct multi-plane holographic images. In this paper, the Pancharatnam-Berry phase meta-atom is designed as electromagnetic controller with the characteristics of the full phase range and high reflection amplitude. Different from the single-plane holography method, a novel multi-plane retrieval algorithm is proposed for the computation of the phase distribution. The metasurface, containing only 24 × 24 (30 × 30) elements, can produce high-quality single-(double-) plane image(s) with fewer elements. Meanwhile, the implementation of the compressed sensing approach stores almost all the holographic image information under a 25% compression ratio and reconstructs the image by the compressed data. The experimental measurements of the samples are consistent with the theoretical and simulated results. This systematic scheme provides an innovative and effective way for designing miniaturized meta-devices to generate high-quality images, which relate to practical applications including high-density data storage, information security, and imaging.

1-Bit Transmission-Type Digital Programmable Coding Metasurface with Multi-Functional Beam-Shaping Capability for Ka-Band Applications

Digital programmable coding metasurfaces (DPCMs) have recently attracted enormous attention and have been broadly applied, owing to their ability to manipulate electromagnetic (EM) wave behaviours and programmable multi-functionality. Recent DPCM works are divided into reflection and transmission types (R-DPCM and T-DPCM, respectively); however, there are only a few reported T-DPCM works in the millimetre-wave spectrum, owing to the difficulty of realising the large-phase controllable range while maintaining low transmission losses with electronic control components. Consequently, most millimetre-wave T-DPCMs are demonstrated only with limited functions in a single design. Additionally, all these designs use high-cost substrate materials that constrain practical applicability, owing to cost-ineffectiveness. Herein, we propose a 1-bit T-DPCM that simultaneously performs three dynamic beam-shaping functions with a single structure for millimetre-wave applications. The proposed structure is completely constructed using low-cost FR-4 materials, and operation of each meta-cell is manipulated using PIN-diodes, thus driving the achievement of multiple effective dynamic functionalities including dual-beam scanning, multi-beam shaping, and orbital-angular-momentum-mode generation. It should be noted that there are no reported millimetre-wave T-DPCMs demonstrating multi-function design, thus showing a gap in the recent literature of millimetre-wave T-DPCMs. Moreover, cost-effectiveness can be significantly enhanced, owing to the construction of the proposed T-DPCM using only low-cost material.

Exploring the limits of metasurface polarization multiplexing capability based on deep learning

Metasurfaces provide a new approach for planar optics and thus have realized multifunctional meta-devices with different multiplexing strategies, among which polarization multiplexing has received much attention due to its convenience. At present, a variety of design methods of polarization multiplexed metasurfaces have been developed based on different meta-atoms. However, as the number of polarization states increases, the response space of meta-atoms becomes more and more complex, and it is difficult for these methods to explore the limit of polarization multiplexing. Deep learning is one of the important routes to solve this problem because it can realize the effective exploration of huge data space. In this work, a design scheme for polarization multiplexed metasurfaces based on deep learning is proposed. The scheme uses a conditional variational autoencoder as an inverse network to generate structural designs and combines a forward network that can predict meta-atoms' responses to improve the accuracy of designs. The cross-shaped structure is used to establish a complicated response space containing different polarization state combinations of incident and outgoing light. The multiplexing effects of the combinations with different numbers of polarization states are tested by utilizing the proposed scheme to design nanoprinting and holographic images. The polarization multiplexing capability limit of four channels (a nanoprinting image and three holographic images) is determined. The proposed scheme lays the foundation for exploring the limits of metasurface polarization multiplexing capability.

Polarization-dependent reconfigurable light field manipulation by liquid-immersion metasurface

Traditional grating lenses can accumulate phase for adjusting wavefronts, and plasmonic resonances can be excited in metasurfaces with discrete structures for optical field modulation. Diffractive and plasma optics have been developing in parallel, with easy processing, small size, and dynamic control advantages. Due to theoretical hybridization, structural design can combine advantages and show great potential value. Changing the shape and size of the flat metasurface can easily produce light field reflections, but changes in height are rarely cross-explored. We propose a graded metasurface with a single-structure periodic arrangement, which can mix the effects of plasmonic resonance and grating diffraction. As for solvents of different polarities, strong polarization-dependent beam reflections are produced, enabling versatile beam convergence and deflection. Dielectric/metal nanostructures with selective hydrophobic/hydrophilic properties can be arranged by the structural material specification to selectively settle the location of the solution in a liquid environment. Furthermore, the wetted metasurface is actively triggered to achieve spectral control and initiate polarization-dependent beam steering in the broadband visible light region. Actively reconfigurable polarization-dependent beam steering has potential applications in tunable optical displays, directional emission, beam manipulation and processing, and sensing technologies.

Electrically switchable metallic polymer metasurface device with gel polymer electrolyte

We present an electrically switchable, compact metasurface device based on the metallic polymer PEDOT:PSS in combination with a gel polymer electrolyte. Applying square-wave voltages, we can reversibly switch the PEDOT:PSS from dielectric to metallic. Using this concept, we demonstrate a compact, standalone, and CMOS compatible metadevice. It allows for electrically controlled ON and OFF switching of plasmonic resonances in the 2-3 µm wavelength range, as well as electrically controlled beam switching at angles up to 10°. Furthermore, switching frequencies of up to 10 Hz, with oxidation times as fast as 42 ms and reduction times of 57 ms, are demonstrated. Our work provides the basis towards solid state switchable metasurfaces, ultimately leading to submicrometer-pixel spatial light modulators and hence switchable holographic devices.

Detailed derivation of the generalized Snell-Descartes laws from Fermat's principle

Beginning with Fermat's principle, we provide a detailed derivation of the generalized laws of refraction and reflection for a geometry realizing a metasurface. We first solve the Euler-Lagrange equations for a light ray propagating across the metasurface. The ray-path equation is found analytically, and the results are supported by numerical calculations. We get generalized laws of refraction and reflection that have three main features: (i) They are relevant in gradient-index optics and in geometrical optics; (ii) A collection of rays emerges from the metasurface as a result of multiple reflections inside the metasurface; and (iii) The laws, although derived from Fermat's principle, differ from previously published results.

Synthesis of Bitten Gold Nanoparticles with Single-Particle Chiroptical Responses

The introduction of structural complexity to nanoparticles brings them interesting properties. Regularity breaking has been challenging in the chemical synthesis of nanoparticles. Most reported chemical methods for synthesizing irregular nanoparticles are complicated and laborious, largely hindering the exploration of structural irregularity in nanoscience. In this study, the authors have combined seed-mediated growth and Pt(IV)-induced etching to synthesize two types of unprecedented Au nanoparticles, bitten nanospheres and nanodecahedrons, with size control. Each nanoparticle has an irregular cavity on it. They exhibit distinct single-particle chiroptical responses. Perfect Au nanospheres and nanorods without any cavity do not show optical chirality, which demonstrates that the geometrical structure of the bitten opening plays a decisive role in the generation of chiroptical responses.

Bifunctional Manipulation of Terahertz Waves with High-Efficiency Transmissive Dielectric Metasurfaces

Multifunctional terahertz (THz) devices in transmission mode are highly desired in integration-optics applications, but conventional devices are bulky in size and inefficient. While ultra-thin multifunctional THz devices are recently demonstrated based on reflective metasurfaces, their transmissive counterparts suffer from severe limitations in efficiency and functionality. Here, based on high aspect-ratio silicon micropillars exhibiting wide transmission-phase tuning ranges with high transmission-amplitudes, a set of dielectric metasurfaces is designed and fabricated to achieve efficient spin-multiplexed wavefront controls on THz waves. As a benchmark test, the photonic-spin-Hall-effect is experimentally demonstrated with a record high absolute efficiency of 92% using a dielectric metasurface encoded with geometric phases only. Next, spin-multiplexed controls on circularly polarized THz beams (e.g., anomalous refraction and focusing) are experimentally demonstrated with experimental efficiency reaching 88%, based on a dielectric meta-device encoded with both spin-independent resonant phases and spin-dependent geometric phases. Finally, high-efficiency spin-multiplexed dual holographic images are experimentally realized with the third meta-device encoded with both resonant and geometric phases. Both near-field and far-field measurements are performed to characterize these devices, yielding results in agreement with full-wave simulations. The study paves the way to realize multifunctional, high-performance, and ultra-compact THz devices for applications in biology sensing, communications, and so on.

Wavelength-Independent Excitation Bessel Beams for High-Resolution and Deep Focus Imaging

Bessel beams are attaining keen interest in the current era considering their unique non-diffractive, self-healing nature and their diverse applications spanning over a broad spectral range of microwave to optical frequencies. However, conventional generators are not only bulky and complex but are also limited in terms of numerical aperture (NA) and efficiency. In this study, we experimentally develop a wavelength-independent Bessel beam generator through custom-designed metasurfaces to accomplish high resolution and large depth-of-focus imaging. These meta-axicons exhibit a high NA of up to 0.7 with an ability to generate Bessel beams with a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 300 nm (~λ/2) and a depth of focus (DOF) of 153 μm (~261λ) in a broad spectral range of 500-700 nm. This excitation approach can provide a promising avenue for cutting-edge technology and applications related to Bessel beams for imaging along with a high axial resolution and an ultra-large depth of focus.

Breaking the limitation of polarization multiplexing in optical metasurfaces with engineered noise

Noise is usually undesired yet inevitable in science and engineering. However, by introducing the engineered noise to the precise solution of Jones matrix elements, we break the fundamental limit of polarization multiplexing capacity of metasurfaces that roots from the dimension constraints of the Jones matrix. We experimentally demonstrate up to 11 independent holographic images using a single metasurface illuminated by visible light with different polarizations. To the best of our knowledge, it is the highest capacity reported for polarization multiplexing. Combining the position multiplexing scheme, the metasurface can generate 36 distinct images, forming a holographic keyboard pattern. This discovery implies a new paradigm for high-capacity optical display, information encryption, and data storage.

Spin-selected bifunctional metasurface for grayscale image and metalens

With the extensive research on the Pancharatnam-Berry phase, metasurfaces have been widely designed as various cross-polarized nanodevices for circularly polarized (CP) illumination. However, co- and cross-polarized lights are rarely co-modulated by the metasurface. To fully utilize the transmitted light, we propose a spin-selected bifunctional metasurface composed of arrayed silver nanorods, integrating an amplitude-based grayscale imaging for co-polarized transmission and a phase-based metalens for cross-polarized transmission, under left-handed CP incidence. Moreover, such dual functionalities work well under right-handed CP incidence. Both experiments and simulations demonstrate the bifunctional performance as potential meta-devices.

Bio-Inspired Nanomembranes as Building Blocks for Nanophotonics, Plasmonics and Metamaterials

Nanomembranes are the most widespread building block of life, as they encompass cell and organelle walls. Their synthetic counterparts can be described as freestanding or free-floating structures thinner than 100 nm, down to monatomic/monomolecular thickness and with giant lateral aspect ratios. The structural confinement to quasi-2D sheets causes a multitude of unexpected and often counterintuitive properties. This has resulted in synthetic nanomembranes transiting from a mere scientific curiosity to a position where novel applications are emerging at an ever-accelerating pace. Among wide fields where their use has proven itself most fruitful are nano-optics and nanophotonics. However, the authors are unaware of a review covering the nanomembrane use in these important fields. Here, we present an attempt to survey the state of the art of nanomembranes in nanophotonics, including photonic crystals, plasmonics, metasurfaces, and nanoantennas, with an accent on some advancements that appeared within the last few years. Unlimited by the Nature toolbox, we can utilize a practically infinite number of available materials and methods and reach numerous properties not met in biological membranes. Thus, nanomembranes in nano-optics can be described as real metastructures, exceeding the known materials and opening pathways to a wide variety of novel functionalities.

Dual-channel geometric meta-holograms with complex-amplitude modulation based on bi-spectral single-substrate-layer meta-atoms

Metasurfaces with complex-amplitude modulation are superior in power regulation and hologram imaging resolution compared with those with phase-only modulation. Nevertheless, a single-cell metasurface with multi-band independent phase and amplitude controls is still a great challenge for the circularly polarized incidences. In this work, we propose and design a single-substrate-layer single-cell metasurface with independent complex-amplitude modulations at two discrete frequencies. Based on this emerging technique, a bi-spectral meta-hologram is designed and verified by both full-wave simulations and experiments, which could reconstruct two Chinese characters at the imaging plane at two frequencies. The proposed method shows great potential in multifunctional meta-devices with enhanced performance.

Reconfigurable broadband metasurfaces with nearly perfect absorption and high efficiency polarization conversion in THz range

Reconfigurable metasurfaces (RMSs) that enable the switching function of absorption and polarization conversion have attracted increasing attention. However, the design of RMSs to achieve wideband and high efficiency for both absorption and polarization conversion functions simultaneously remains a great challenge. Here, we propose the design of a RMS structure with a high-efficiency cross-polarization conversion and nearly perfect absorption. The reconfiguration between different functions of polarization conversion and absorption is obtained based on the reversible insulator-to-metal phase transition of Vanadium dioxide (VO[Formula: see text]). When the VO[Formula: see text] is in insulator state, the RMS realizes the cross-polarization conversion function in the wideband of 1.04-3.75 THz with a relative bandwidth up to 113 [Formula: see text] due to the multi-resonant modes of electric and magnetic resonances. Meanwhile, the nearly-perfect absorption is achieved in the range of 1.36-3.38 THz with the corresponding relative bandwidth up to 85 [Formula: see text] for the VO[Formula: see text] in metallic state. Specially, the wideband and high-efficiency performance of these functionalities is maintained for a wide angle incidence. The capability of bi-functional switch and integration with polarization conversion and absorption in a single metasurface structure endowed with both wideband and high-efficiency characteristics for a wide incident angle is very promising for emerging RMS devices in the terahertz region.

Creating perfect composite vortex beams with a single all-dielectric geometric metasurface

Optical vortex beam carrying orbit angular momentum has been extensively researched and applied recently. Among which a perfect vortex beam (PVB) has attracted much attention owing to its topological charge (TC)-irrelevant intensity profile. However, the morphology singularity, as well as implementation complexity of the PVB tie the degree of freedom for multiplexing. Herein, by introducing the concept of a composite vortex beam, we originally propose a novel kind of PVB - perfect composite vortex beam (PCVB) - which possesses a rosette-like intensity pattern that is exactly correlated with the TC and can be directly generated using a single all-dielectric geometric metasurface rather than bulky optical systems. We numerically simulate the broadband generation of the proposed PCVB with various TCs, sizes, and rotation angles. To further explore the potential of our design in practical applications, we demonstrated the coaxial array of the PCVBs and detected their optical angular force for manipulating nanoparticles. We believe that our fruitage may pave a desirable avenue for optical communication, information processing, and optical manipulation.

Sub-wavelength patterned pulse laser lithography for efficient fabrication of large-area metasurfaces

Rigorously designed sub-micrometer structure arrays are widely used in metasurfaces for light modulation. One of the glaring restrictions is the unavailability of easily accessible fabrication methods to efficiently produce large-area and freely designed structure arrays with nanoscale resolution. We develop a patterned pulse laser lithography (PPLL) approach to create structure arrays with sub-wavelength feature resolution and periods from less than 1 μm to over 15 μm on large-area thin films with substrates under ambient conditions. Separated ultrafast laser pulses with patterned wavefront by quasi-binary phase masks rapidly create periodic ablated/modified structures by high-speed scanning. The gradient intensity boundary and circular polarization of the wavefront weaken diffraction and polarization-dependent asymmetricity effects during light propagation for high uniformity. Structural units of metasurfaces are obtained on metal and inorganic photoresist films, such as antennas, catenaries, and nanogratings. We demonstrate a large-area metasurface (10 × 10 mm²) revealing excellent infrared absorption (3–7 μm), which comprises 250,000 concentric rings and takes only 5 minutes to produce.

Fabrication of metasurfaces with nanoscale structures is inefficient for large areas. Here, the authors introduce patterned pulse laser lithography for creating structured arrays with sub-wavelength feature on large-area thin films under ambient conditions.

Active metasurface in the near-infrared region by gating ultrathin TiN films

Ultrathin titanium nitride (TiN) films have become a novel material flatform for constructing active metasurfaces in the near-infrared region. In this Letter, we numerically achieved the dual functions of switchable linear dichroism (LD) and tunable perfect absorption in a G-shape gold resonators/TiN film hybrid metasurface by gating ultrathin TiN films. As the carrier density of TiN decreases, the modulation depth for LD strength is about 70% at 1211 nm. Meanwhile, the response wavelength of perfect absorption (∼1) shifts to the blue by around 130 nm with a change of carrier density of 12%. Our proposed active metasurface with the capability of strength-switchable LD and wavelength-tunable perfect absorption has considerable potential in dynamic electro-optic modulation and flat photonic devices with reconfigurable functionalities.

Recent Advances in Tunable Metasurfaces: Materials, Design, and Applications

Metasurfaces, a two-dimensional (2D) form of metamaterials constituted by planar meta-atoms, exhibit exotic abilities to tailor electromagnetic (EM) waves freely. Over the past decade, tremendous efforts have been made to develop various active materials and incorporate them into functional devices for practical applications, pushing the research of tunable metasurfaces to the forefront of nanophotonics. Those active materials include phase change materials (PCMs), semiconductors, transparent conducting oxides (TCOs), ferroelectrics, liquid crystals (LCs), atomically thin material, etc., and enable intriguing performances such as fast switching speed, large modulation depth, ultracompactness, and significant contrast of optical properties under external stimuli. Integration of such materials offers substantial tunability to the conventional passive nanophotonic platforms. Tunable metasurfaces with multifunctionalities triggered by various external stimuli bring in rich degrees of freedom in terms of material choices and device designs to dynamically manipulate and control EM waves on demand. This field has recently flourished with the burgeoning development of physics and design methodologies, particularly those assisted by the emerging machine learning (ML) algorithms. This review outlines recent advances in tunable metasurfaces in terms of the active materials and tuning mechanisms, design methodologies, and practical applications. We conclude this review paper by providing future perspectives in this vibrant and fast-growing research field.

Robust Achromatic All-Dielectric Metalens for Infrared Detection in Intelligent Inspection

Metalens has the advantages of high design freedom, light weight and easy integration, thus provides a powerful platform for infrared detection. Here, we numerically demonstrated a broadband achromatic infrared all-dielectric metalens over a continuous 800 nm bandwidth, with strong environmental adaptability in air, water and oil. By building a database with multiple 2π phase coverage and anomalous dispersions, optimizing the corrected required phase profiles and designing the sizes and spatial distributions of silicon nanopillars, we numerically realized the design of broadband achromatic metalens. The simulation results of the designed metalens show nearly constant focal lengths and diffraction-limited focal spots over the continuous range of wavelengths from 4.0 to 4.8 μm, indicating the ability of the designed metalens to detect thermal signals over a temperature range from various fault points. Further simulation results show that the metalens maintains good focusing performance under the environment of water or oil. This work may facilitate the application of metalens in ultra-compact infrared detectors for power grid faults detection.

Doublet Metalens with Simultaneous Chromatic and Monochromatic Correction in the Mid-Infrared

Metalenses provide a powerful paradigm for mid-infrared (MIR) imaging and detection while keeping the optical system compact. However, the design of MIR metalenses simultaneously correcting chromatic aberration and off-axis monochromatic aberration remains challenging. Here, we propose an MIR doublet metalens composed of a silicon aperture metalens and a silicon focusing metalens separated by a fused silica substrate. By performing ray-tracing optimization and particle-swarm optimization, we optimized the required phase profiles as well as the sizes and spatial distributions of silicon nanopillars of the doublet metalens. Simulation results showed that the MIR doublet metalens simultaneously achieved chromatic and off-axis monochromatic aberration reduction, realizing a continuous 400 nm bandwidth and 20° field-of-view (FOV). Thanks to its planar configuration, this metalens is suitable for integration with CMOS image sensor to achieve MIR imaging and detection, which has potential application in troubleshooting and intelligent inspection of power grids. This work may facilitate the practical application of metalens-integrated micro/nanosensors in intelligent energy.

Silver split nano-tube array as a meta-atomic monolayer for high-reflection band

In this work, an ultra-thin silver film-coated grating as a split silver nanotube array exhibits not only high TE polarized reflectance as a conventional subwavelength grating but also high TM polarized reflectance that is close to or higher than TE reflectance at certain wavelength range. The TM reflectance peak shifts with the morphology of the silver covering. The near-field analysis reveals that the silver nanotube array is an ultra-thin optical double negative metamaterial. The negative permeability associated magnetic field reversal is induced within the grating that is surrounded by a split current loop at the TM reflectance peak wavelength. The near field simulation is used to retrieve the equivalent electromagnetic parameters and optical constants that cause the anomalous TM high reflection. It is demonstrated that the TM impedances have a low magnitude and high magnitude with respect to unity for light incident onto the top and bottom of the grating at the peak wavelength, respectively.

Cylindrical Metalens for Generation and Focusing of Free-Electron Radiation

Metasurfaces constitute a powerful approach to generate and control light by engineering optical material properties at the subwavelength scale. Recently, this concept was applied to manipulate free-electron radiation phenomena, rendering versatile light sources with unique functionalities. In this Letter, we experimentally demonstrate spectral and angular control over coherent light emission by metasurfaces that interact with free-electrons under grazing incidence. Specifically, we study metalenses based on chirped metagratings that simultaneously emit and shape Smith-Purcell radiation in the visible and near-infrared spectral regime. In good agreement with theory, we observe the far-field signatures of strongly convergent and divergent cylindrical radiation wavefronts using in situ hyperspectral angle-resolved light detection in a scanning electron microscope. Furthermore, we theoretically explore simultaneous control over the polarization and wavefront of Smith-Purcell radiation via a split-ring-resonator metasurface, enabling tunable operation by spatially selective mode excitation at nanometer resolution. Our work highlights the potential of merging metasurfaces with free-electron excitations for versatile and highly tunable radiation sources in wide-ranging spectral regimes.

Recent Advancement in Optical Metasurface: Fundament to Application

Metasurfaces have gained growing interest in recent years due to their simplicity in manufacturing and lower insertion losses. Meanwhile, they can provide unprecedented control over the spatial distribution of transmitted and reflected optical fields in a compact form. The metasurfaces are a kind of planar array of resonant subwavelength components that, depending on the intended optical wavefronts to be sculpted, can be strictly periodic or quasi-periodic, or even aperiodic. For instance, gradient metasurfaces, a subtype of metasurfaces, are designed to exhibit spatially changing optical responses, which result in spatially varying amplitudes of scattered fields and the associated polarization of these fields. This paper starts off by presenting concepts of anomalous reflection and refraction, followed by a brief discussion on the Pancharatanm-Berry Phase (PB) and Huygens' metasurfaces. As an introduction to wavefront manipulation, we next present their key applications. These include planar metalens, cascaded meta-systems, tunable metasurfaces, spectrometer retroreflectors, vortex beams, and holography. The review concludes with a summary, preceded by a perspective outlining our expectations for potential future research work and applications.

Augmentation of surface plasmon-enhanced second harmonic generation from Au nanoprisms on SiO2/Si: interference contribution

We present an augmentation of Surface Plasmon (SP)-enhanced second harmonic generation (SHG) due to interference field enhancement in Au nanoprisms (AuNPs) on SiO₂-coated Si substrates. The SiO₂ spacer contributed for the optical interference and increased the coupling efficiency of the pump light with the SP polarization as well as a decoupling efficiency of the SHG waves from nonlinear polarization. The intensity of the SP-enhanced SHG signals increased 4.5-fold with respect to the AuNPs on the bare SiO₂ substrate by setting the SiO₂ spacer layer to the appropriate thickness. The numerical analysis revealed that the optimal SHG conversion was determined by the balance between the degree of the optical interference at the fundamental and SHG wavelengths.

Terahertz switchable VO2-Au hybrid active metasurface holographic encryption

The combination of metasurface and holographic technology is the most cutting-edge development, but most of the proposed designs are static and do not allow active changes through external stimulation after fabrication, which takes only a limited part of the advantage provided by metasurface. Here, we propose and demonstrate a switchable hybrid active metasurface hologram in the terahertz (THz) regime composed of dynamic pixels (VO₂-CSRR) and static pixels (Au-CSRR) based on an intelligent algorithm, which can display some/all information in different temperature ranges. In particular, such performance shows excellent potential in the field of optical communication security, making it a promising candidate. To prove this possibility, we propose a scheme for optical information encryption/decryption and transmission, which takes metasurfaces as carriers of encrypted information and state/polarization/positions as the secret key components. Only when the two matches correctly can we get the hidden real information. The security of our proposed scheme has reached an unprecedented level, providing a new road for communication security.

Optical metalenses: fundamentals, dispersion manipulation, and applications

Metasurfaces, also known as 2D artificial metamaterials, are attracting great attention due to their unprecedented performances and functionalities that are hard to achieve by conventional diffractive or refractive elements. With their sub-wavelength optical scatterers, metasurfaces have been utilized to freely modify different characteristics of incident light such as amplitude, polarization, phase, and frequency. Compared to traditional bulky lenses, metasurface lenses possess the advantages of flatness, light weight, and compatibility with semiconductor manufacture technology. They have been widely applied to a range of scenarios including imaging, solar energy harvesting, optoelectronic detection, etc. In this review, we will first introduce the fundamental design principles for metalens, and then report recent theoretical and experimental progress with emphasis on methods to correct chromatic and monochromatic aberrations. Finally, typical applications of metalenses and corresponding design rules will be presented, followed by a brief outlook on the prospects and challenges of this field.

Flip-component metasurfaces for camouflaged meta-domes

Allowing microwaves to transmit through without changing the wavefront is one of the essential requirements of the dome structures of antenna arrays like radars. Here, we demonstrate a microwave metasurface as an array of two types of meta-atoms, which are the flip counterparts to each other. Due to the reciprocity and space-inversion symmetry, the wavefront in the transmission is unchanged by the metasurface in a broad spectrum; while at the same time, the wavefront in reflection can be manipulated independently by changing the arrangement of the meta-atoms. Specifically, a random-flip metasurface that produces diffuse reflection is realized, enabling a camouflaged meta-dome. The broadband, wide-angle, and polarization-independent diffuse reflection and undistorted transmission are numerically and experimentally verified. Our finding enables a unique meta-dome structure that has camouflage functionality.

Inverse design enables large-scale high-performance meta-optics reshaping virtual reality

Meta-optics has achieved major breakthroughs in the past decade; however, conventional forward design faces challenges as functionality complexity and device size scale up. Inverse design aims at optimizing meta-optics design but has been currently limited by expensive brute-force numerical solvers to small devices, which are also difficult to realize experimentally. Here, we present a general inverse-design framework for aperiodic large-scale (20k × 20k λ2) complex meta-optics in three dimensions, which alleviates computational cost for both simulation and optimization via a fast approximate solver and an adjoint method, respectively. Our framework naturally accounts for fabrication constraints via a surrogate model. In experiments, we demonstrate aberration-corrected metalenses working in the visible with high numerical aperture, poly-chromatic focusing, and large diameter up to the centimeter scale. Such large-scale meta-optics opens a new paradigm for applications, and we demonstrate its potential for future virtual-reality platforms by using a meta-eyepiece and a laser back-illuminated micro-Liquid Crystal Display.

Hydrodynamic metasurface for programming electromagnetic beam scanning on the Azimuth and elevation planes

The development of multifunctional and reconfigurable metasurfaces capable of manipulating electromagnetic waves has created new opportunities for various exciting applications. Extensive efforts have been applied to exploiting active metasurfaces with properties that can be controlled by externally controlling active components. However, previous approaches have poor switch isolation, power handling limitations due to nonlinear effects, and complex biasing networks. Therefore, dynamically tunable metasurfaces have become a burgeoning field in many research areas. This paper reports a hydrodynamic metasurface (HMS) that can be programmed to realize electromagnetic beam scanning on the azimuth and elevation planes. The proposed HMS platform incorporates four micropumps, each controlling four metasurface elements via microfluidic channels, built into the HMS base. The proposed platform regulates microfluidic flow through micropumps, causing irregularities in incident wave transmission phase. An HMS was built as a proof of concept, and far-field scanning experiments were performed. Numerical and experimental results verify the feasibility of electromagnetic beam scanning using a hydrodynamic metasurface. This work advances metasurface research, with very high potential for wide-ranging application and a promising route for replacing bulky cascading active components.

Metasurface-empowered spectral and spatial light modulation for disruptive holographic displays

The holographic display, one of the most realistic ways to reconstruct optical images in three-dimensional (3D) space, has gained a lot of attention as a next-generation display platform for providing deeper immersive experiences to users. So far, diffractive optical elements (DOEs) and spatial light modulators (SLMs) have been used to generate holographic images by modulating electromagnetic waves at each pixel. However, such architectures suffer from limitations in terms of having a resolution of only a few microns and the bulkiness of the entire optical system. In this review, we describe novel metasurfaces-based nanophotonic platforms that have shown exceptional control of electromagnetic waves at the subwavelength scale as promising candidates to overcome existing restrictions, while realizing flat optical devices. After introducing the fundamentals of metasurfaces in terms of spatial and spectral wavefront modulation, we present a variety of multiplexing approaches for high-capacity and full-color metaholograms exploiting the multiple properties of light as an information carrier. We then review tunable metaholograms using active materials modulated by several external stimuli. Afterward, we discuss the integration of metasurfaces with other optical elements required for future 3D display platforms in augmented/virtual reality (AR/VR) displays such as lenses, beam splitters, diffusers, and eye-tracking sensors. Finally, we address the challenges of conventional nanofabrication methods and introduce scalable preparation techniques that can be applied to metasurface-based nanophotonic technologies towards commercially and ergonomically viable future holographic displays.

Control of Polarization Orientation Angle of Scattered Light Based on Metasurfaces: −90° to +90° Linear Variation

Metasurfaces can be used to precisely control polarization state of the scattered light. Here, we present a metasurface-based terahertz device. On the one hand, it serves as a high performance linear polarization converter in transmission of over 80% power with weak reflection. It is capable of rotating linear polarization orientation angle with respect to x-axis continuously from −90° to +90° at 0.84 THz. On the other hand, it serves as a circular polarizer. It can transform a linear polarized wave into a circular polarized wave at 2.49 THz. The transmitted and reflected field are both circular polarized with 50% power. The proposed device with dual functionalities can be applied to modulate the polarization state of the signal in THz wireless communication.

Quasi-omnidirectional retroreflective metagrating for TE-polarized waves based on wave-vector reversions

Structuring elements of gratings brings more freedom in manipulating diffraction waves, e.g., retroreflection using diffraction orders other than the 0^th order. Most retroreflective metagratings (RMs) can achieve retroreflection only under one particular direction, limiting their applications. In this paper, we propose a quasi-omnidirectional RM based on wave-vector reversion for TE-polarized waves. The metagrating element is composed of four rotationally-symmetric sub-elements, which is composed of one probe and two directors on its two sides. The substrate-air-metal layer can reverse kz while directors can reverse kx. Therefore, the wave-vector k of reflected waves can be completely reversed by the sub-element, providing necessary momentum for retroreflection. The -2^nd diffraction order of the metagrating is tailored to channel out waves with reversed k, leading to retroreflection. Due to the element's four-fold rotational symmetry, retroreflection can be achieved along four directions, covering all of the four quarters of azimuth angle. We demonstrate prototypes in Ku band, and the average backscattering enhancement compared with a metal plane with the same area (SAMP) along the four directions reaches up to 31.3 dB with incident angle 50.0° at 15.0 GHz. Both simulated and measured results verify our design. This work provides another perspective on retroreflection and may find applications in retroreflective functional devices.