Simultaneous sorting of arbitrary vector structured beams with spin-multiplexed diffractive metasurfaces

Vector structured beams(VSBs)offer infinite eigenstates and open up new possibilities for highcapacity optical and quantum communications by the multiplexing of the states.Therefore,the sorting and measuring of VSBs are extremely important.However,the efficient manipulations of a large number of VSBs have simultaneously remained challenging up to now,especially in integrated optical systems.Here,we propose a compact spin-multiplexed diffractive metasurface capable of continuously sorting and detecting arbitrary VSBs through spatial intensity separation.By introducing a diffractive optical neural network with cascaded metasurface systems,we demonstrate arbitrary VSBs sorters that can simultaneously identify Laguerre–Gaussian modes(l=−4 to 4,p=1 to 4),Hermitian–Gaussian modes(m=1 to 4,n=1 to 3),and Bessel–Gaussian modes(l=1 to 12).Such a sorter for arbitrary VSBs could revolutionize applications in integrated and high-dimensional optical communication systems.

Multiparticle resonant optical sorting using a topological photonic structure

Resonance between light and object is highly desired in optical manipulation because the optical forces reach maximum values in this case. However, in traditional waveguide structures, the resonant interaction also greatly perturbs the incident field and weakens or completely destroys the manipulation on the subsequent particles. In order to avoid this dilemma, we propose to perform optical manipulation in a topological photonic structure.Owing to the topological protection, the light mode can almost keep its original form when an object is being manipulated. Therefore, resonant optical sorting can be achieved in a multiple and high throughput manner. The mechanism and results presented here pave the way for efficient on-chip optical sorting for biophysical and biochemical analysis.