2015.2.9

Harnessing light for modern photonic applications often involves the control and manipulation of light polarization and phase. Traditional methods require a combination of multiple discrete optical components, each of which contributes to a specific functionality.

Scientists from Nankai Univeristy and the LMF, IOP have published the results that plasmonic metasurfaces can be used to accomplish simultaneous manipulation of polarization and phase of the transmitted light. Arbitrary spatial field distribution of the optical phase and polarization direction can be obtained. They proposed and demonstrated that multifunctional metasurfaces are capable of a broadband near-perfect anomalous refraction with controllable linear polarization through introducing a constant phase gradient along the interface. Furthermore, the power of the proposed metasurfaces is demonstrated by generating a radically polarized beam. The new degrees of freedom of metasurfaces facilitate arbitrary manipulation of light and will profoundly affect a wide range of photonic applications.

Image: Plasmonic metasurface for Simultaneous Control of Light Polarization and Phase Distributions

Original article:  J.Li et al (2015) “Simultaneous Control of Light Polarization and Phase Distributions Using Plasmonic Metasurfaces” Adv. Funct. Mater. 2015, 25, 704–710.