Metasurfaces as artificially nanostructured interfaces hold significant potential for multi-functionality, which may play a pivotal role in the next-generation compact nano-devices. The majority of multi-tasked metasurfaces encode or encrypt multi-information either into the carefully tailored metasurfaces or in pre-set complex incident beam arrays. Here, we propose and demonstrate a multi-momentum transformation metasurface (i.e., meta-transformer), by fully synergizing intrinsic properties of light, e.g., orbital angular momentum (OAM) and linear momentum (LM), with a fixed phase profile imparted by a metasurface. The OAM meta-transformer reconstructs different topologically charged beams into on-axis distinct patterns in the same plane. The LM meta-transformer converts red, green and blue illuminations to the on-axis images of “R”, “G” and “B” as well as vivid color holograms, respectively. Thanks to the infinite states of light-metasurface phase combinations, such ultra-compact meta-transformer has potential in information storage, nanophotonics, optical integration and optical encryption.

Optical elements coupling the spin and orbital angular momentum (SAM/OAM) of light have found a range of applications in classical and quantum optics. The J-plate, with J referring to the photon's total angular momentum (TAM), is a metasurface device that imparts two arbitrary OAM states on an arbitrary orthogonal basis of spin states. We demonstrate that when these J-plates are cascaded in series, they can generate several single quantum number beams and versatile superpositions thereof. Moreover, in contrast to previous spin-orbit-converters, the output polarization states of cascaded J-plates are not constrained to be the conjugate of the input states. Cascaded J-plates are also demonstrated to produce vector vortex beams and complex structured light, providing new ways to control TAM states of light.

In polarimetry, that is, a measurement of the four-component polarization Stokes vector, a measurement must either consist of four (or more) sequential intensity measurements, sacrificing time resolution, or contain four separate light paths each with separate polarization optics, increasing bulk, cost, and system complexity. Similar issues present difficulty across polarization optics technology. Metasurfaces, nanophotonic arrays of phase shifting elements, have emerged as a novel platform for polarization optics. These individual phase shifters can be designed with a characteristic anisotropy, and are thus imbued with tunable shape birefringence. A metasurface, then, can function as a subwavelength spaced array of nanoscale waveplates. I will describe how, through relatively simple optimization methods, a metasurface producing arbitrarily specified polarization states (when illuminated with light of a known polarization) can be designed. This functionality is equivalent to a traditional diffraction grating with individual waveplate optics on each order; here, all the necessary polarization optics can be integrated into a flat, ultrathin optical element. Moreover, such a metasurface can be used in a reverse configuration as a parallel snapshot polarimeter with no need for additional polarization optics (save for a single polarizer). I present a detailed experimental characterization of both concepts in the visible spectral region and a comparison of the performance of the metasurface to a commercially available rotating waveplate polarimeter. With no bulk birefringent crystal optics, a parallel, full-polarization state measurement can be made with an integrated, scalable, and inexpensive device. Given its diffractive nature, the design naturally extends to spectropolarimetry and polarization imaging.

Metasurfaces are optical elements with nanoscale dimensions and planar profiles that expand the functionality and usefulness of traditional refractive optics. This has lead to considerable interest in metasurfaces for a variety of applications, including consumer electronics, automotive, and medical devices. Metasurface elements can be manufactured using standard microelectronics process techniques enabling mass production of optical elements in semiconductor foundries. Additionally, being produced at the wafer-scale, metasurfaces enable wafer-scale integration of optical systems. However, most metasurfaces to date have been produced in small-scale research settings using serial patterning techniques such as electron beam lithography. In order for metasurfaces to penetrate high volume applications, scalable production processes must be developed, including lithographic reproduction of metasurface design geometries. In particular, the constituent elements of metasurfaces, nanopillars, have shapes, aspect ratios, and local density variations which diverge from typical microelectronics design rules. After a brief overview of metasurface fundamentals and their applications we will discuss traditional fabrication techniques, device requirements, and the challenges that arise when scaling to manufacturing. We will also discuss future generations of metasurfaces and further challenges in terms of geometry, critical dimensions, and materials compatibility.

We demonstrate single-layer metasurfaces with controllable multi-wavelength functions. A multiwavelength achromatic metalens for red, yellow, green and blue light, and metasurfaces generating focused beams with different orbital angular momentum states are designed and fabricated.

The constituent elements of metasurfaces may be designed with explicit polarization dependence, making metasurfaces a fascinating platform for new polarization optics. In this work we show that a metasurface grating can be designed to produce arbitrarily specified polarization states on a set of defined diffraction orders given that the polarization of the incident beam is known. We also demonstrate that, when used in a reverse configuration, the same grating may be used as a parallel snapshot polarimeter, requiring a minimum of bulk polarization optics. We demonstrate its use in measuring partially polarized light, and show that it performs favorably in comparison to a commercial polarimeter. This work is of consequence in any application requiring lightweight, compact, and low-cost polarization optics, polarimetry, or polarization imaging.

In this paper, we report dispersion-engineered metasurfaces with distinct functionalities controlled by wavelength. Unlike previous approaches based on spatial multiplexing or vertical stacking of metasurfaces, we utilize a single phase profile with wavelength dependence encoded in the phase shifters’ dispersion. We designed and fabricated a multiwavelength achromatic metalens (MAM) with achromatic focusing for blue (B), green (G), yellow (Y), and red (R) light and two wavelength-controlled beam generators (WCBG): one focuses light with orbital angular momentum (OAM) states (l = 0,1,2) corresponding to three primary colors; the other produces ordinary focal spots (l = 0) for red and green light, while generating a vortex beam (l = 1) in the blue. A full color (RGB) hologram is also demonstrated in simulation. Our approach opens a path to applications ranging from near-eye displays and holography to compact multiwavelength beam generation.

Publisher’s Note: This conference presentation recording, originally published on 14 March 2018, was withdrawn per author request on 22 March, 2018.

We present here a compact metasurface lens element that enables simultaneous and spatially separated imaging of light of opposite circular polarization states. The design overcomes a limitation of previous chiral lenses reliant on the traditional geometric phase approach by allowing for independent focusing of both circular polarizations without a 50% efficiency trade-off. We demonstrate circular polarization-dependent imaging at visible wavelengths with polarization contrast greater than 20dB and efficiencies as high as 70%.

Guided modes in anisotropic two-dimensional van der Waals materials are experimentally investigated and their refractive indices in visible wavelengths are extracted. Our method involves near-field scanning optical microscopy of waveguide (transverse electric) and surface plasmon polariton (transverse magnetic) modes in h-BN/SiO2/Si and Ag/h-BN stacks, respectively. We determine the dispersion of these modes and use this relationship to extract anisotropic refractive indices of h-BN flakes. In the wavelength interval 550-700 nm, the in-plane and out-of-plane refractive indices are in the range 1.98-2.12 and 1.45-2.12, respectively. Our approach of using near-field scanning optical microscopy allows for direct study of interaction between light and two-dimensional van der Waals materials and heterostructures.

Conventional compact spectrometers have a fixed spectral resolution and cannot resolve the polarization properties of light without additional optical elements, while their larger counterparts are bulky and costly. Here, we demonstrate multiple off-axis meta-lenses in the visible integrated on a single planar substrate. They possess both focusing and strongly dispersive properties and are designed to provide different spectral resolutions as well as working wavelength ranges on the same chip. We realize a compact spectrometer using only these meta-lenses and a CMOS camera and achieve detector-limited spectral resolutions as small as 0.3 nm and a total working wavelength range exceeding 170 nm for a beam propagation length of only a few cm. In addition, this spectrometer has the capability to resolve different helicities of light in a single measurement. This chip-camera setup represents the most compact configuration so far achieved for a spectrometer with similar performance and functionality, and its compatibility with large-scale fabrication processes makes it broadly applicable.

We present a new platform that realizes high performance metasurfaces in the visible spectrum. This platform is based on atomic layer deposition of titanium dioxide and allows molding incident light wavefront to desired shapes including holographic images, optical vortices, and Bessel beams. The focus of this work will be on the design and demonstration of planar metalenses. We report on our recent experimental realization of high numerical aperture metalenses with efficiency as high as 86%. These metalenses can focus light into a diffraction-limited spot and can be employed for imaging purposes to provide sub-wavelength imaging resolution. In addition, by the judicious design of metalens building blocks, one can achieve a multispectral chiral metalens (MCML) within a single metasurface layer. The MCML can simultaneously resolve chiral and spectral information of an object without the requirement of additional optical components such as polarizers, wave-plates, or even gratings. Using this MCML, we map the chiroptical properties of a macroscopic chiral biological specimen across the visible range. Finally, since many applications require polarization insensitive planar lenses, we discuss the experimental realization of such metalenses with numerical apertures as high as NA=0.85. These metalenses can focus incident light to a spot as small as ~0.6lambda with efficiencies up to 70%. The straightforward and CMOS-compatible fabrication process of this platform is promising for a wide range of optics-based applications in multidisciplinary science and technology.

Using immersion lenses is a common approach to enhance the resolving power in various fields of optics such as microscopy and lithography. However, conventional immersion lenses are bulky, high-cost and are typically designed for only a few specific immersion liquids. The development of meta-surfaces provides a promising approach to manipulate light in a compact configuration, enabling many optical devices such as polarizers, waveplates and lenses. These are mainly focused in the near-infrared or the long-wavelength region of the visible spectrum due to fabrication challenges and intrinsic losses of materials used. Here, we demonstrate oil immersion planar lenses with a numerical aperture of 1.1 at visible wavelengths. The lenses provide diffraction-limited focal spots with Strehl ratios higher than 0.9 and 0.8 at their design wavelengths of 532 nm and 405 nm, respectively. Fabrication is based on an atomic-layer deposition (ALD) of TiO2. The loss of TiO2 in the visible is negligible and the surface roughness is well-controlled due to the precise monolayer growth of the TiO2 film. By applying the lens (designed at 532 nm) in a confocal scanning microscopy setup, we are able to achieve high-quality images with sub-wavelength resolution. It should be noted that this lens can be efficiently tailored for any liquid. We demonstrate another design for water-immersion lenses, which are highly applicable to super-resolution bio-imaging applications. The compactness and design flexibility of this platform is highly promising for widespread applications in imaging and spectroscopy.

We present a method allowing for the imposition of two independent and arbitrary phase profiles on any pair of orthogonal states of polarization-linear, circular, or elliptical-relying only on simple, linearly birefringent wave plate elements arranged into metasurfaces. This stands in contrast to previous designs which could only address orthogonal linear, and to a limited extent, circular polarizations. Using this approach, we demonstrate chiral holograms characterized by fully independent far fields for each circular polarization and elliptical polarization beam splitters, both in the visible. This approach significantly expands the scope of metasurface polarization optics.

This article reviews recent progress leading to the realization of planar optical components made of a single layer of phase shifting nanostructures. After introducing the principles of planar optics and discussing earlier works on subwavelength diffractive optics, we introduce a classification of metasurfaces based on their different phase mechanisms and profiles and a comparison between plasmonic and dielectric metasurfaces. We place particular emphasis on the recent developments on electric and magnetic field control of light with dielectric nanostructures and highlight the physical mechanisms and designs required for efficient all-dielectric metasurfaces. Practical devices of general interest such as metalenses, beam deflectors, holograms, and polarizing interfaces are discussed, including high-performance metalenses at visible wavelengths. Successful strategies to achieve achromatic response at selected wavelengths and near unity transmission/reflection efficiency are discussed. Dielectric metasurfaces and dispersion management at interfaces open up technology opportunities for applications including wavefront control, lightweight imaging systems, displays, electronic consumer products, and conformable and wearable optics.

We introduce the Holographic - Single Scatterer Localization Microscopy in which we combine dynamical laser speckle illumination with centroid localization of backscattered light spots in order to localize isolated scattering particles. The reconstructed centroid images show very accurate particle localization, with precision much better than the width of diffraction-limited image of the particles recorded by the CCD. Furthermore, the method provides an improved resolution in distinguishing two very close scattering objects compared to the standard laser scanning techniques and can be assimilated to a confocal technique in the ability of light background rejection in three-dimensional disposition of scattering objects. The illumination is controlled via a digital holography setup based on the use of a spatial light modulator. This allows not only a high level of versatility in the illumination patterns, but also the remarkable characteristics of absence of moving mechanical parts, typical of the laser scanning techniques, and the possibility of strongly miniaturizing the setup.

Optical elements that convert the spin angular momentum (SAM) of light into vortex beams have found applications in classical and quantum optics. These elements-SAM-toorbital angular momentum (OAM) converters-are based on the geometric phase and only permit the conversion of left-and right-circular polarizations (spin states) into states with opposite OAM. We present a method for converting arbitrary SAM states into total angular momentum states characterized by a superposition of independent OAM. We designed a metasurface that converts left-and right-circular polarizations into states with independent values of OAM and designed another device that performs this operation for elliptically polarized states. These results illustrate a general material-mediated connection between SAM and OAM of light and may find applications in producing complex structured light and in optical communication.

We would like to clarify our paper [Opt. Express25, 377 (2017)] abstract sentence "These beams carry orbital angular momentum proportional to the number of intertwined helices constituting the wavefront."

We present recent advances in metasurface-based photonics, which enables the realization of high performance planar lenses (metalenses) in the visible spectrum. They are enabled by a technique based on atomic layer deposition of titanium dioxide allowing for the fabrication of nanostructures with high fidelity. First, we demonstrate highly efficient metalenses with numerical aperture NA = 0.8 using the Pancharatnam-Berry phase approach. These metalenses can focus light into a diffraction-limited spot. They have efficiencies as high as 86% and provide high imaging resolution. Furthermore, by judicious design of the phase-shifting elements, we achieve a multispectral chiral metalens realized with a single metasurface layer. This chiral metalens can resolve both the chiral and spectral information of an object without the requirement of any additional optical components. Finally, we discuss the experimental realization of polarization-insensitive metalenses with NAs as high as 0.85. They are able to focus incident light to a spot as small as ~0.64λ with efficiencies up to 60%. Due to its straightforward and CMOS-compatible fabrication, this platform is promising for a wide range of applications ranging from camera modules, displays, laser-based imaging, microscopy, and spectroscopy to laser fabrication and lithography.