Highly birefringent metamaterial structure as a tunable partial polarizer

Metasurface-Based Solid Poincaré Sphere Polarizer

The combination of conventional polarization optical elements, such as linear polarizers and waveplates, is widely adopted to tailor light's state of polarization (SOP). Meanwhile, less attention has been given to the manipulation of light's degree of polarization (DOP). Here, we propose metasurface-based polarizers that can filter unpolarized incident light to light with any prescribed SOP and DOP, corresponding to arbitrary points located both at the surface and within the solid Poincaré sphere. The Jones matrix elements of the metasurface are inverse-designed via the adjoint method. As prototypes, we experimentally demonstrated metasurface-based polarizers in near-infrared frequencies that can convert unpolarized light into linear, elliptical, or circular polarizations with varying DOPs of 1, 0.7, and 0.4, respectively. Our Letter unlocks a new degree of freedom for metasurface polarization optics and may break new ground for a variety of DOP-related applications, such as polarization calibration and quantum state tomography.

Homogenization of the vertically stacked medium frequency magnetic metamaterials with multi-turn resonators

The paper presents a homogenization method of the magnetic metamaterials, made of perpendicularly oriented resonators consisting of multi-turn planar coils. A resulting composite, in the form of parallel stripes with metamaterial cells, exhibits extraordinary properties in the medium frequency magnetic field, such as zero permeability. To identify an effective permeability of this metamaterial, two models were presented, i.e., a three-dimensional numerical model with current sheet approximation as well as Lorentz oscillator model, where individual coefficients are based on the lumped circuit parameters and directly related with a geometry of the unit cell. The accuracy of the second approach is improved by taking into account mutual inductances in a metamaterial grid. Then, a comparison is made with numerical model results to show adequacy of the adopted analytical attempt, and properties of this type of metamaterial are discussed. It is shown that discussed metamaterial structure can achieve negative permeability as well as its values, at identical resonant frequency, are dependent on number of turns of the planar coil.

Anisotropic Optical Response of WTe2 Single Crystals Studied by Ellipsometric Analysis

In this paper we report the crystal growth conditions and optical anisotropy properties of Tungsten ditelluride (WTe₂) single crystals. The chemical vapor transport (CVT) method was used for the synthesis of large WTe₂ crystals with high crystallinity and surface quality. These were structurally and morphologically characterized by means of X-ray diffraction, optical profilometry and Raman spectroscopy. Through spectroscopic ellipsometry analysis, based on the Tauc–Lorentz model, we identified a high refractive index value (~4) and distinct tri-axial anisotropic behavior of the optical constants, which opens prospects for surface plasmon activity, revealed by the dielectric function. The anisotropic physical nature of WTe₂ shows practical potential for low-loss light modulation at the 2D nanoscale level.