Polarization-dependent asymmetric transmission using a bifacial metasurface

Area of Science:

• Optics and Photonics
• Metamaterials
• Nanophotonics

Background:

• Metasurfaces offer superior performance and miniaturization compared to conventional optical elements.
• Full-space control of metasurfaces, manipulating both transmitted and reflected light, is a key area in optics.
• Existing metasurfaces often require specific light conditions, limiting practical applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a novel metasurface design method for polarization-dependent full-space optical control.
• To enable simultaneous and independent manipulation of phase profiles in both transmission and reflection spaces.
• To overcome the limitations of preconditioned light requirements in previous metasurface designs.

Main Methods:

• Introducing a phase gradient to satisfy the critical angle condition for transmissive-to-reflective operation conversion.
• Utilizing rectangular nanopillars for polarization beam splitting with tailored phase control.
• Fabricating and experimentally validating three distinct metasurface samples based on the proposed design.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated a design method for polarization-dependent full-space control of metasurfaces.
• Achieved independent and arbitrary phase profile control for both transmission and reflection.
• Successfully converted transmissive operation to reflective operation by introducing a phase gradient.

Conclusions:

• The proposed metasurface design enables unprecedented full-space optical control with polarization dependency.
• This method overcomes previous limitations, allowing for practical applications like 360° holography.
• The successful fabrication and measurement of samples validate the proposed scheme for advanced optical manipulation.