Building Multifunctional Metasystems via Algorithmic Construction

Flat optics foresees a promising route to ultracompact optical devices, where metasurfaces serve as the foundation. Conventional designs of metasurfaces start with a certain structure as the prototype, followed by extensive parametric sweeps to accommodate the requirements of phase and amplitude of the emerging light. Regardless of how computation consuming the process is, a predefined structure can hardly realize the independent control over polarization, frequency, and spatial channels, which hinders the potential of metasurfaces to be multifunctional. Besides, achieving complicated and multiple functions calls for designing metasystems with multiple cascading layers of metasurfaces, which introduces exponential complexity. In this work, we present a hybrid deep learning framework for designing multilayer metasystems with multifunctional capabilities. We demonstrate examples of a polarization-multiplexed dual-functional beam generator, a second-order differentiator for all-optical computing, and a space-polarization-wavelength multiplexed hologram. These examples are barely achievable by single-layer metasurfaces and unattainable by traditional design processes.