Silicon Metasurfaces for Third Harmonic Geometric Phase Manipulation and Multiplexed Holography

Area of Science:

• Optics and Photonics
• Materials Science
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Nonlinear wavefront control is essential for nonlinear optical applications using metasurfaces.
• Plasmonic metasurfaces have limitations like high loss and low damage thresholds.
• All-dielectric metasurfaces offer strong nonlinear responses but lack full wavefront control during generation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate nonlinear wavefront control for third-harmonic generation (THG) using silicon metasurfaces.
• To overcome the limitations of plasmonic metasurfaces in nonlinear nanophotonics.
• To develop a versatile toolbox for all-dielectric nonlinear optical wavefront control.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of nanostructured silicon metasurfaces.
• Utilizing the Pancharatnam-Berry phase approach for phase gradient and holographic image encoding.
• Experimental demonstration of polarization-dependent wavefront control and holographic reconstruction at the THG wavelength.

Main Results:

• Successful nonlinear wavefront control for third-harmonic generation.
• High-fidelity reconstruction of encoded holographic images at the THG wavelength.
• Demonstration of polarization-dependent control and holographic multiplexing using THG polarization states.

Conclusions:

• Silicon metasurfaces provide a promising platform for nonlinear optical wavefront control.
• The Pancharatnam-Berry phase approach enables efficient phase encoding and holographic functionalities.
• This work simplifies design and fabrication, offering a user-friendly toolbox for all-dielectric nonlinear metasurfaces.