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Photonic slide rule with metasurfaces
Feilong Yu1,2,3,4, Jin Chen1,2,3,4, Lujun Huang5
1State Key Laboratory of Infrared Physics, Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 500 Yu Tian Road, 200083, Shanghai, China.
Light, Science & Applications
|March 30, 2022
Summary
Researchers developed a photonic slide rule using an all-silicon metasurface to reconstruct unknown photons' frequency and polarization. This device offers ultracompact, multifunctional characterization for integrated optics and pocketable devices.
Area of Science:
- Optics and Photonics
- Metamaterials
- Quantum Information
Background:
- Photons are fundamental particles carrying information via frequency, polarization, phase, and amplitude, crucial for modern science and technology.
- Retrieving full photon information in an ultracompact, broad-bandwidth manner is a significant challenge.
Purpose of the Study:
- To demonstrate a versatile photonic slide rule for reconstructing incident photons' frequency and polarization states.
- To enable ultracompact and multifunctional characterization of photons.
Main Methods:
- Utilized an all-silicon metasurface designed with specific topological charges (+1 and -1) for achromatically focusing and azimuthally evolving phases.
- Leveraged coherent interactions of frequency-driven phase diagrams and spin-orbital coupling for photon characterization.
- Employed geometric phase and interference holography for joint manipulation of group delays, creating angle-resolved intensity distributions.
Main Results:
- Successfully reconstructed incident photons' frequency and polarization states using the photonic slide rule.
- Achieved simultaneous identification of photon frequency and circular polarization through distinct spot locations.
- Demonstrated transverse angle-resolved in-pair spots, overcoming longitudinal dispersion issues of conventional methods.
Conclusions:
- The developed photonic slide rule provides an analog for flexible, ultracompact, and multifunctional photon characterization.
- The technology holds potential for applications in integrated optical circuits and pocketable devices.
- This work advances compact photon analysis and manipulation techniques.
