Gallium phosphide optical metasurfaces for visible light applications.

There are few materials that are broadly used for fabricating optical metasurfaces for visible light applications. Gallium phosphide (GaP) is a material that, due to its optical properties, has the potential to become a primary choice but due to the difficulties in fabrication, GaP thin films deposited on transparent substrates have never been exploited. In this article we report the design, fabrication, and characterization of three different amorphous GaP metasurfaces obtained through sputtering. Although the material properties can be further optimized, our results show the potential of this material for visible applications making it a viable alternative in the material selection for optical metasurfaces.

Single-Layer Metasurface with Controllable Multiwavelength Functions.

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.

A broadband achromatic metalens for focusing and imaging in the visible.

A key goal of metalens research is to achieve wavefront shaping of light using optical elements with thicknesses on the order of the wavelength. Such miniaturization is expected to lead to compact, nanoscale optical devices with applications in cameras, lighting, displays and wearable optics. However, retaining functionality while reducing device size has proven particularly challenging. For example, so far there has been no demonstration of broadband achromatic metalenses covering the entire visible spectrum. Here, we show that by judicious design of nanofins on a surface, it is possible to simultaneously control the phase, group delay and group delay dispersion of light, thereby achieving a transmissive achromatic metalens with large bandwidth. We demonstrate diffraction-limited achromatic focusing and achromatic imaging from 470 to 670 nm. Our metalens comprises only a single layer of nanostructures whose thickness is on the order of the wavelength, and does not involve spatial multiplexing or cascading. While this initial design (numerical aperture of 0.2) has an efficiency of about 20% at 500 nm, we discuss ways in which our approach may be further optimized to meet the demand of future applications.

Nano-optic endoscope for high-resolution optical coherence tomography in vivo.

Acquisition of high-resolution images from within internal organs using endoscopic optical imaging has numerous clinical applications. However, difficulties associated with optical aberrations and the trade-off between transverse resolution and depth-of-focus significantly limit the scope of applications. Here, we integrate a metalens, with the ability to modify the phase of incident light at sub-wavelength level, into the design of an endoscopic optical coherence tomography catheter (termed nano-optic endoscope) to achieve near diffraction-limited imaging through negating non-chromatic aberrations. Remarkably, the tailored chromatic dispersion of the metalens in the context of spectral interferometry is utilized to maintain high-resolution imaging beyond the input field Rayleigh range, easing the trade-off between transverse resolution and depth-of-focus. We demonstrate endoscopic imaging both in resected human lung specimens and in sheep airways in vivo. The combination of the superior resolution and higher imaging depth-of-focus of the nano-optic endoscope will likely increase the clinical utility of endoscopic optical imaging.

Giant intrinsic chiro-optical activity in planar dielectric nanostructures.

The strong optical chirality arising from certain synthetic metamaterials has important and widespread applications in polarization optics, stereochemistry and spintronics. However, these intrinsically chiral metamaterials are restricted to a complicated three-dimensional (3D) geometry, which leads to significant fabrication challenges, particularly at visible wavelengths. Their planar two-dimensional (2D) counterparts are limited by symmetry considerations to operation at oblique angles (extrinsic chirality) and possess significantly weaker chiro-optical responses close to normal incidence. Here, we address the challenge of realizing strong intrinsic chirality from thin, planar dielectric nanostructures. Most notably, we experimentally achieve near-unity circular dichroism with ~90% of the light with the chosen helicity being transmitted at a wavelength of 540 nm. This is the highest value demonstrated to date for any geometry in the visible spectrum. We interpret this result within the charge-current multipole expansion framework and show that the excitation of higher-order multipoles is responsible for the giant circular dichroism. These experimental results enable the realization of high-performance miniaturized chiro-optical components in a scalable manner at optical frequencies.

Metalenses: Versatile multifunctional photonic components.

Recent progress in metasurface designs fueled by advanced-fabrication techniques has led to the realization of ultrathin, lightweight, and flat lenses (metalenses) with unprecedented functionalities. Owing to straightforward fabrication, generally requiring a single-step lithography, and the possibility of vertical integration, these planar lenses can potentially replace or complement their conventional refractive and diffractive counterparts, leading to further miniaturization of high-performance optical devices and systems. Here we provide a brief overview of the evolution of metalenses, with an emphasis on the visible and near-infrared spectrum, and summarize their important features: diffraction-limited focusing, high-quality imaging, and multifunctionalities. We discuss impending challenges, including aberration correction, and also examine current issues and solutions. We conclude by providing an outlook of this technology platform and identifying promising directions for future research.

Immersion Meta-Lenses at Visible Wavelengths for Nanoscale Imaging.

Immersion objectives can focus light into a spot smaller than what is achievable in free space, thereby enhancing the spatial resolution for various applications such as microscopy, spectroscopy, and lithography. Despite the availability of advanced lens polishing techniques, hand-polishing is still required to manufacture the front lens of a high-end immersion objective, which poses major constraints for lens design. This limits the shape of the front lens to spherical. Therefore, several other lenses need to be cascaded to correct for spherical aberration, resulting in significant challenges for miniaturization and adding design complexity for different immersion liquids. Here, by using metasurfaces, we demonstrate liquid immersion meta-lenses free of spherical aberration at various design wavelengths in the visible spectrum. We report water and oil immersion meta-lenses of various numerical apertures (NA) up to 1.1 and show that their measured focal spot sizes are diffraction-limited with Strehl ratios of approximately 0.9 at 532 nm. By integrating the oil immersion meta-lens (NA = 1.1) into a commercial scanning confocal microscope, we achieve an imaging spatial resolution of approximately 200 nm. These meta-lenses can be easily adapted to focus light through multilayers of different refractive indices and mass-produced using modern industrial manufacturing or nanoimprint techniques, leading to cost-effective high-end optics.

Spin-to-orbital angular momentum conversion in dielectric metasurfaces: erratum.

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."

Spin-to-orbital angular momentum conversion in dielectric metasurfaces.

Vortex beams are characterized by a helical wavefront and a phase singularity point on the propagation axis that results in a doughnut-like intensity profile. These beams carry orbital angular momentum proportional to the number of intertwined helices constituting the wavefront. Vortex beams have many applications in optics, such as optical trapping, quantum optics and microscopy. Although beams with such characteristics can be generated holographically, spin-to-orbital angular momentum conversion has attracted considerable interest as a tool to create vortex beams. In this process, the geometrical phase is exploited to create helical beams whose handedness is determined by the circular polarization (left/right) of the incident light, that is by its spin. Here we demonstrate high-efficiency Spin-to-Orbital angular momentum-Converters (SOCs) at visible wavelengths based on dielectric metasurfaces. With these SOCs we generate vortex beams with high and fractional topological charge and show for the first time the simultaneous generation of collinear helical beams with different and arbitrary orbital angular momentum. This versatile method of creating vortex beams, which circumvents the limitations of liquid crystal SOCs and adds new functionalities, should significantly expand the applications of these beams.

Generation of wavelength-independent subwavelength Bessel beams using metasurfaces.

Bessel beams are of great interest due to their unique non-diffractive properties. Using a conical prism or an objective paired with an annular aperture are two typical approaches for generating zeroth-order Bessel beams. However, the former approach has a limited numerical aperture (NA), and the latter suffers from low efficiency, as most of the incident light is blocked by the aperture. Furthermore, an additional phase-modulating element is needed to generate higher-order Bessel beams, which in turn adds complexity and bulkiness to the system. We overcome these problems using dielectric metasurfaces to realize meta-axicons with additional functionalities not achievable with conventional means. We demonstrate meta-axicons with high NA up to 0.9 capable of generating Bessel beams with full width at half maximum about as small as ~λ/3 (λ=405 nm). Importantly, these Bessel beams have transverse intensity profiles independent of wavelength across the visible spectrum. These meta-axicons can enable advanced research and applications related to Bessel beams, such as laser fabrication, imaging and optical manipulation.

High-Operating-Temperature Direct Ink Writing of Mesoscale Eutectic Architectures.

High-operating-temperature direct ink writing (HOT-DIW) of mesoscale architectures that are composed of eutectic silver chloride-potassium chloride. The molten ink undergoes directional solidification upon printing on a cold substrate. The lamellar spacing of the printed features can be varied between approximately 100 nm and 2 µm, enabling the manipulation of light in the visible and infrared range.

Broadband high-efficiency dielectric metasurfaces for the visible spectrum.

Metasurfaces are planar optical elements that hold promise for overcoming the limitations of refractive and conventional diffractive optics. Original dielectric metasurfaces are limited to transparency windows at infrared wavelengths because of significant optical absorption and loss at visible wavelengths. Thus, it is critical that new materials and nanofabrication techniques be developed to extend dielectric metasurfaces across the visible spectrum and to enable applications such as high numerical aperture lenses, color holograms, and wearable optics. Here, we demonstrate high performance dielectric metasurfaces in the form of holograms for red, green, and blue wavelengths with record absolute efficiency (>78%). We use atomic layer deposition of amorphous titanium dioxide with surface roughness less than 1 nm and negligible optical loss. We use a process for fabricating dielectric metasurfaces that allows us to produce anisotropic, subwavelength-spaced dielectric nanostructures with shape birefringence. This process is capable of realizing any high-efficiency metasurface optical element, e.g., metalenses and axicons.

High efficiency near diffraction-limited mid-infrared flat lenses based on metasurface reflectarrays.

We report the first demonstration of a mid-IR reflection-based flat lens with high efficiency and near diffraction-limited focusing. Focusing efficiency as high as 80%, in good agreement with simulations (83%), has been achieved at 45° incidence angle at λ = 4.6 µm. The off-axis geometry considerably simplifies the optical arrangement compared to the common geometry of normal incidence in reflection mode which requires beam splitters. Simulations show that the effects of incidence angle are small compared to parabolic mirrors with the same NA. The use of single-step photolithography allows large scale fabrication. Such a device is important in the development of compact telescopes, microscopes, and spectroscopic designs.

High-quality-factor planar optical cavities with laterally stopped, slowed, or reversed light.

In a planar optical cavity, the resonance frequencies increase as a function of in-plane wavevector according to a standard textbook formula. This has well-known consequences in many different areas of optics, from the shifts of etalon peaks at non-normal angles, to the properties of transverse modes in laser diodes, to the effective mass of microcavity photons, and so on. However, this standard formula is valid only when the reflection phase of each cavity mirror is approximately independent of angle. There is a certain type of mirror-a subwavelength dielectric grating near a guided mode resonance-with not only a strongly angle-dependent reflection phase, but also very high reflectance and low losses. Simulations show that by using such mirrors, high-quality-factor planar cavities can be designed that break all these textbook rules, leading to resonant modes that are slow, stopped or even backward-propagating in the in-plane direction. In particular, we demonstrate experimentally high-Q planar cavities whose resonance frequency is independent of in-plane wavevector-i.e., the resonant modes have zero in-plane group velocity, for one polarization but both in-plane directions. We discuss potential applications in various fields including lasers, quantum optics, and exciton-polariton condensation.

Broadband and chiral binary dielectric meta-holograms.

Subwavelength structured surfaces, known as meta-surfaces, hold promise for future compact and optically thin devices with versatile functionalities. By revisiting the concept of detour phase, we demonstrate high-efficiency holograms with broadband and chiral imaging functionalities. In our devices, the apertures of binary holograms are replaced by subwavelength structured microgratings. We achieve broadband operation from the visible to the near infrared and efficiency as high as 75% in the 1.0 to 1.4 µm range by compensating for the inherent dispersion of the detour phase with that of the subwavelength structure. In addition, we demonstrate chiral holograms that project different images depending on the handedness of the reference beam by incorporating a geometric phase. Our devices' compactness, lightness, and ability to produce images even at large angles have significant potential for important emerging applications such as wearable optics.

Metalenses at visible wavelengths: Diffraction-limited focusing and subwavelength resolution imaging.

Subwavelength resolution imaging requires high numerical aperture (NA) lenses, which are bulky and expensive. Metasurfaces allow the miniaturization of conventional refractive optics into planar structures. We show that high-aspect-ratio titanium dioxide metasurfaces can be fabricated and designed as metalenses with NA = 0.8. Diffraction-limited focusing is demonstrated at wavelengths of 405, 532, and 660 nm with corresponding efficiencies of 86, 73, and 66%. The metalenses can resolve nanoscale features separated by subwavelength distances and provide magnification as high as 170×, with image qualities comparable to a state-of-the-art commercial objective. Our results firmly establish that metalenses can have widespread applications in laser-based microscopy, imaging, and spectroscopy.

Broadband Multifunctional Efficient Meta-Gratings Based on Dielectric Waveguide Phase Shifters.

Molding the wavefront of light is a basic principle of any optical design. In conventional optical components such as lenses and waveplates, the wavefront is controlled via propagation phases in a medium much thicker than the wavelength. Metasurfaces instead typically produce the required phase changes using subwavelength-sized resonators as phase shift elements patterned across a surface. This "flat optics" approach promises miniaturization and improved performance. Here we introduce metasurfaces which use dielectric ridge waveguides (DRWs) as phase shift elements in which the required phase accumulation is achieved via propagation over a subwavelength distance. By engineering the dispersive response of DRWs, we experimentally realize high resolving power meta-gratings with broadband (λ = 1.2-1.7 µm) and efficient routing (splitting and bending) into a single diffraction order, thus overcoming the limits of blazed gratings. In addition, we demonstrate polarization beam splitting capabilities with large suppression ratios.

Achromatic Metasurface Lens at Telecommunication Wavelengths.

Nanoscale optical resonators enable a new class of flat optical components called metasurfaces. This approach has been used to demonstrate functionalities such as focusing free of monochromatic aberrations (i.e., spherical and coma), anomalous reflection, and large circular dichroism. Recently, dielectric metasurfaces that compensate the phase dispersion responsible for chromatic aberrations have been demonstrated. Here, we utilize an aperiodic array of coupled dielectric nanoresonators to demonstrate a multiwavelength achromatic lens. The focal length remains unchanged for three wavelengths in the near-infrared region (1300, 1550, and 1800 nm). Experimental results are in agreement with full-wave simulations. Our findings are an essential step toward a realization of broadband flat optical elements.

Silicon nanofin grating as a miniature chirality-distinguishing beam-splitter.

The polarization of light plays a central role in its interaction with matter, in situations ranging from familiar (for example, reflection and transmission at an interface) to sophisticated (for example, nonlinear optics). Polarization control is therefore pivotal for many optical systems, and achieved using bulk devices such as wave-plates and beam-splitters. The move towards optical system miniaturization therefore motivates the development of micro- and nanostructures for polarization control. For such control to be complete, one must distinguish not only between linear polarizations, but also between left- and right-circular polarizations. Some previous works used surface plasmons to this end, but these are inherently lossy. Other works used complex-layered structures. Here we demonstrate a planar dielectric chirality-distinguishing beam-splitter. The beam-splitter consists of amorphous silicon nanofins on a glass substrate and deflects left- and right-circularly polarized beams into different directions. Contrary to intuitive expectations, we utilize an achiral architecture to realize a chiral beam-splitting functionality.

Optimization of multiple-slot waveguides for biochemical sensing.

In this work, we analyze and optimize an optical biochemical sensor using silicon multiple-slot waveguides. The rigorous optimization procedure considers parameters such as ridge width, slot width, the number of slots, and the effect of residual silicon left at the bottom of the slot region. These parameters are then optimized using a figure of merit to achieve the highest possible sensitivity to bulk and surface changes in the upper cladding of the sensor. The multiple-slot structure is then studied in a bend configuration in order to construct ring-resonator-based sensors. A bulk sensitivity of 912 nm/refractive index unit is achieved for a change in bulk refractive index, which is three times better than single-slot waveguides.