Multi-Function Reflective Vector Light Fields Generated by All-Dielectric Encoding Metasurface.

Area of Science:

• Optics and Photonics
• Metamaterials
• Nanophotonics

Background:

• Traditional optics often assumes uniform light polarization.
• Non-uniform vector beams offer richer polarization information.
• Existing metasurface methods for cylindrical vector beams primarily use geometric phase, limiting incident light polarization.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design an all-dielectric reflective metasurface capable of generating various output light modes based on incident polarization states.
• To overcome the limitations of geometric phase by integrating dynamic phase control.
• To enable versatile vector beam generation with enhanced design freedom.

Main Methods:

• Design of an all-dielectric reflective metasurface.
• Integration of dynamic phase and geometric phase encoding principles.
• Analysis of output light characteristics for different incident polarizations (linear x, linear y, left-handed circular, right-handed circular).

Main Results:

• Demonstration of radial vector beam generation from x-polarized incident light.
• Demonstration of azimuthal vector beam generation from y-polarized incident light.
• Generation of vortex beams with topological charges of -1 and +1 from left-handed and right-handed circularly polarized incident light, respectively.

Conclusions:

• The proposed reflective metasurface effectively generates diverse vector and vortex beams by utilizing combined phase mechanisms.
• This approach overcomes the polarization constraints of traditional geometric phase methods.
• The metasurface shows significant potential for highly integrated applications in generating tailored optical beams.