Symmetry-Guided Engineering of Polarization by 2D Moiré Metasurfaces

Cylindrical vector (CV) beams exhibit spatially varying polarization important in optical communication, super-resolution microscopy, and high-throughput information processing. Compared to radially or azimuthally polarized CV beams that are cylindrically symmetric, hybrid-electric (HE) beams offer increased optical tunability because of their polygonally symmetric polarizations. However, efforts to generate and isolate HE beams have relied on bulky optical assemblies or devices with complex and stringent fabrication requirements. Here, we report a moiré-based metasurface approach to engineer HE polarization states with high degrees of rotational symmetry. Importantly, polarization symmetries can be tailored based only on the reciprocal lattice of the metasurface and not the real-space patterns. Our modular method outlines important design principles for shaping light at the nanoscale.