Theoretical realization of single-mode fiber integrated metalens for beam collimating

Fabrication of multilevel metalenses using multiphoton lithography: from design to evaluation

We present a procedure for the design of multilevel metalenses and their fabrication with multiphoton-based direct laser writing. This work pushes this fast and versatile fabrication technique to its limits in terms of achievable feature size dimensions for the creation of compact high-numerical aperture metalenses on flat substrates and optical fiber tips. We demonstrate the design of metalenses with various numerical apertures up to 0.96, and optimize the fabrication process towards nanostructure shape reproducibility. We perform optical characterization of the metalenses towards spot size, focusing efficiency, and optical functionality with a fiber beam collimation design, and compare their performance with refractive and diffractive counterparts fabricated with the same technology.

Ultracompact metalens-based beam-focusing fiber-optic device with a large numerical aperture

Conventional optical fibers have good light conduction and transmission properties, and have been widely used in the fields of long-distance fiber-optic communication and sensing. However, due to the dielectric properties of the fiber core and cladding materials, the spot size of the transmitted light is dispersive, which greatly limits the application areas of optical fiber. The emergence of metalenses based on artificial periodic micro-nanostructures is opening the door to a variety of fiber innovations. We demonstrate an ultracompact beam-focusing fiber-optic device based on a composite structure of a single-mode fiber (SMF), a multimode fiber (MMF), and a metalens consisting of periodic micro-nano silicon column structures. Convergent beams with numerical apertures (NAs) of up to 0.64@air and a focal length of 63.6 μm are produced by the metalens on the MMF end face. The metalens-based fiber-optic beam-focusing device could find new applications in optical imaging, particle capture and manipulation, sensing, and fiber lasers.

Metasurface around the side surface of an optical fiber for light focusing

Optical fibers integrated with metasurfaces have drawn tremendous interest in recent years due to the great potential for revolutionizing and functionalizing traditional optics. However, in most cases, metasurfaces have been placed on the fiber end-facet where the area is quite limited. Here, by dressing a series of identical dielectric rings around the side surface of the microfiber and adjusting their positions along the microfiber axis, we extracted guided waves into free-space radiation with continuously controllable phase shift and achieved circular-arc-shaped line focusing. We demonstrated that the off-fiber foci could be rotated around the fiber axis by tuning the polarization of the guided waves. In addition, we demonstrated that the shape of the focus could be further tuned by introducing symmetry breaking into the dielectric rings. Our study provides a new dimension for the design of optical fiber devices decorated with metasurfaces.

Ultra-Thin, Short-Focus, and High-Aperture Metalens for Generating and Detecting Laser Optical Vortices

A combined high-aperture metalens in a thin silicon nitride film that consists of two tilted sectored metalenses is considered. Each sector of the metalens consists of a set of binary subwavelength gratings. The diameter of the metalens is 14 μm. Using a time-domain finite difference method, we show that the metalens can simultaneously detect optical vortices with two topological charges −1 and −2, almost over the entire spectrum of visible wavelengths. The metalens can distinguish several wavelengths that are focused at different points in the focal plane due to a 1-nm change in wavelength resulting in a focal spot shift of about 4 nm. When the metalens is illuminated by a Gaussian beam with left-handed circular polarization, two optical vortices with topological charges 1 and 2 are simultaneously formed 6-μm apart at the focal distance of 6 μm.

Optical Fiber-Integrated Metasurfaces: An Emerging Platform for Multiple Optical Applications

The advent of metasurface technology has revolutionized the field of optics and photonics in recent years due to its capability of engineering optical wavefronts with well-patterned nanostructures at subwavelength scale. Meanwhile, inspired and benefited from the tremendous success of the “lab-on-fiber” concept, the integration of metasurface with optical fibers has drawn particular interest in the last decade, which establishes a novel technological platform towards the development of “all-in-fiber” metasurface-based devices. Thereby, this review aims to present and summarize the optical fiber-integrated metasurfaces with the current state of the art. The application scenarios of the optical fiber metasurface-based devices are well classified and discussed accordingly, with a brief explanation of physical fundamentals and design methods. The key fabrication methods corresponding to various optical fiber metasurfaces are summarized and compared. Furthermore, the challenges and potential future research directions of optical fiber metasurfaces are addressed to further leverage the flexibility and versatility of meta-fiber-based devices. It is believed that the optical fiber metasurfaces, as a novel all-around technological platform, will be exploited for a large range of applications in telecommunication, sensing, imaging, and biomedicine.