Tailoring high-refractive-index nanocomposites for manufacturing of ultraviolet metasurfaces

Nanoimprint lithography(NIL)has been utilized to address the manufacturing challenges of high cost and low throughput for optical metasurfaces.To overcome the limitations inherent in conventional imprint resins characterized by a low refractive index(n),high-n nanocomposites have been introduced to directly serve as meta-atoms.However,comprehensive research on these nanocomposites is notably lacking.In this study,we focus on the composition of high-n zirconium dioxide(ZrO_(2))nanoparticle(NP)concentration and solvents used to produce ultraviolet(UV)metaholograms and quantify the transfer fidelity by the measured conversion efficiency.The utilization of 80 wt%ZrO_(2)NPs in MIBK,MEK,and acetone results in conversion efficiencies of 62.3%,51.4%,and 61.5%,respectively,at a wavelength of 325 nm.The analysis of the solvent composition and NP concentration can further enhance the manufacturing capabilities of high-n nanocomposites in NIL,enabling potential practical use of optical metasurfaces.

Integrated metasurfaces for re-envisioning a near-future disruptive optical platform

Metasurfaces have been continuously garnering attention in both scientific and industrial fields,owing to their unprecedented wavefront manipulation capabilities using arranged subwavelength artificial structures.To date,research has mainly focused on the full control of electromagnetic characteristics,including polarization,phase,amplitude,and even frequencies.Consequently,versatile possibilities of electromagnetic wave control have been achieved,yielding practical optical components such as metalenses,beam-steerers,metaholograms,and sensors.Current research is now focused on integrating the aforementioned metasurfaces with other standard optical components(e.g.,light-emitting diodes,charged-coupled devices,micro-electro-mechanical systems,liquid crystals,heaters,refractive optical elements,planar waveguides,optical fibers,etc.)for commercialization with miniaturization trends of optical devices.Herein,this review describes and classifies metasurface-integrated optical components,and subsequently discusses their promising applications with metasurface-integrated optical platforms including those of augmented/virtual reality,light detection and ranging,and sensors.In conclusion,this review presents several challenges and prospects that are prevalent in the field in order to accelerate the commercialization of metasurfaces-integrated optical platforms.

One-step printable platform for high-efficiency metasurfaces down to the deep-ultraviolet region

A single-step printable platform for ultraviolet(UV)metasurfaces is introduced to overcome both the scarcity of low-loss UV materials and manufacturing limitations of high cost and low throughput.By dispersing zirconium dioxide(ZrO_(2))nanoparticles in a UV-curable resin,ZrO_(2)nanoparticle-embedded-resin(nano-PER)is developed as a printable material which has a high refractive index and low extinction coefficient from near-UV to deep-UV.In ZrO_(2)nano-PER,the UV-curable resin enables direct pattern transfer and ZrO_(2)nanoparticles increase the refractive index of the composite while maintaining a large bandgap.With this concept,UV metasurfaces can be fabricated in a single step by nanoimprint lithography.As a proof of concept,UV metaholograms operating in near-UV and deep-UV are experimentally demonstrated with vivid and clear holographic images.The proposed method enables repeat and rapid manufacturing of UV metasurfaces,and thus will bring UV metasurfaces more close to real life.

Liquid crystal-integrated metasurfaces for an active photonic platform

Metasurfaces have opened the door to next-generation optical devices due to their ability to dramatically modulate electromagnetic waves at will using periodically arranged nanostructures.However,metasurfaces typically have static optical responses with fixed geometries of nanostructures,which poses challenges for implementing transition to technology by replacing conventional optical components.To solve this problem,liquid crystals(LCs)have been actively employed for designing tunable metasurfaces using their adjustable birefringent in real time.Here,we review recent studies on LCpowered tunable metasurfaces,which are categorized as wavefront tuning and spectral tuning.Compared to numerous reviews on tunable metasurfaces,this review intensively explores recent development of LC-integrated metasurfaces.At the end of this review,we briefly introduce the latest research trends on LC-powered metasurfaces and suggest further directions for improving LCs.We hope that this review will accelerate the development of new and innovative LC-powered devices.

Geometric and physical configurations of meta-atoms for advanced metasurface holography

Metasurfaces consisting of subwavelength structures,so-called meta-atoms,have steadily attracted considerable attention for advanced holography due to their advantages in terms of high-resolution holographic images,large field of view,and compact device volume.In contrast to conventional holographic displays using bulky conventional diffractive optical elements,metasurface holography enables arbitrary complex wavefront shaping with a much smaller footprint.In this review,we classify metasurface holography according to the meta-atom design methodologies,which can further expand hologram functionalities.We describe light-matter interactions,particularly in metasurface systems,using the relevant the Jones matrix to rigorously explain modulations of the amplitude,phase,and polarization of light.Six different types of metaatoms are presented,and the corresponding achievable wavefronts that form the holographic images in the far-field are also provided.Such a simple classification will give a straightforward approach to design and further realize advanced metasurface holographic devices.

Liquid crystal-powered Mie resonators for electrically tunable photorealistic color gradients and dark blacks

Taking inspiration from beautiful colors in nature,structural colors produced from nanostructured metasurfaces have shown great promise as a platform for bright,highly saturated,and high-resolution colors.Both plasmonic and dielectric materials have been employed to produce static colors that fulfil the required criteria for high-performance color printing,however,for practical applications in dynamic situations,a form of tunability is desirable.Combinations of the additive color palette of red,green,and blue enable the expression of further colors beyond the three primary colors,while the simultaneous intensity modulation allows access to the full color gamut.Here,we demonstrate an electrically tunable metasurface that can represent saturated red,green,and blue pixels that can be dynamically and continuously controlled between on and off states using liquid crystals.We use this to experimentally realize ultrahigh-resolution color printing,active multicolor cryptographic applications,and tunable pixels toward high-performance full-color reflective displays.

Optical spin-symmetry breaking for high-efficiency directional helicity-multiplexed metaholograms

Helicity-multiplexed metasurfaces based on symmetric spin–orbit interactions (SOIs) have practical limits because they cannot provide central-symmetric holographic imaging. Asymmetric SOIs can effectively address such limitations, with several exciting applications in various fields ranging from asymmetric data inscription in communications to dual side displays in smart mobile devices. Low-loss dielectric materials provide an excellent platform for realizing such exotic phenomena efficiently. In this paper, we demonstrate an asymmetric SOI-dependent transmission-type metasurface in the visible domain using hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) nanoresonators. The proposed design approach is equipped with an additional degree of freedom in designing bi-directional helicity-multiplexed metasurfaces by breaking the conventional limit imposed by the symmetric SOI in half employment of metasurfaces for one circular handedness. Two on-axis, distinct wavefronts are produced with high transmission efficiencies, demonstrating the concept of asymmetric wavefront generation in two antiparallel directions. Additionally, the CMOS compatibility of a-Si:H makes it a cost-effective alternative to gallium nitride (GaN) and titanium dioxide (TiO2) for visible light. The cost-effective fabrication and simplicity of the proposed design technique provide an excellent candidate for high-efficiency, multifunctional, and chip-integrated demonstration of various phenomena.

Giant chiro-optical responses in multipolar-resonances-based single-layer dielectric metasurfaces

Chiro-optical effects offer a wide range of potential applications in nanophotonics,such as advanced imaging and molecular sensing and separation.Flat single-layer metasurfaces composed of subwavelength meta-atoms have gained significant attention due to their exceptional characteristics in light–matter interactions.Although metasurface-based devices have manipulated electromagnetic waves,the compact on-chip realization of giant chiro-optical effects remains a challenge at optical frequencies.In this work,we experimentally and numerically demonstrate an all-dielectric metasurface to realize large chiro-optical effects in the visible regime.Notably,the proposed strategy of utilizing achiral nanofins instead of conventional chiral structures provides an extra degree of design freedom.The mutual coupling between carefully engineered nanofins produces constructive and destructive interference,leading to the asymmetric transmission of 70%and average circular dichroism exceeding 60%.We investigate the underlying mechanism behind the chiro-optical effects using the theory of multipolar decomposition.The proposed design mechanism maximizes the chiro-optical response through a single-layer metasurface with potential applications in high-efficiency integrated ultrathin polarization rotators and shapers,chiral polarizers for optical displays,chiral beam splitters,and chiral sensors.

Thermally-curable nanocomposite printing for the scalable manufacturing of dielectric metasurfaces

Metasurfaces consisting of artificially designed meta-atoms have been popularized recently due to their advantages of amplitude and phase of light control.However,the electron beam lithography method for metasurface fabrication has high cost and low throughput,which results in a limitation for the fabrication of metasurfaces.In this study,nanocomposite printing technology is used to fabricate high-efficiency metasurfaces with low cost.To demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed fabrication method,a metahologram is designed and fabricated using a nanocomposite.The metahologram exhibits conversion efficiencies of 48%and 35%at wavelengths of 532 and 635 nm,respectively.The nanocomposite is composed of polymers with nanoparticles,so durability tests are also performed to evaluate the effects of temperature and humidity on the metasurfaces.The test verifies that at temperatures below the glass transition temperature of the base resin,the nanostructures do not collapse,so the efficiency of the metasurfaces remains almost the same.The surrounding humidity does not affect the nanostructures at all.Hence,the durability of the nanocomposite metasurfaces can be further enhanced by replacing the base resin,and this nanocomposite printing method will facilitate practical metasurface use at low cost.

High numerical aperture RGB achromatic metalens in the visible

We theoretically and experimentally demonstrate an RGB achromatic metalens that operates concurrently at three visible wavelengths(λ=450, 532, and 700 nm) with a high numerical aperture of 0.87. The RGB metalens is designed by simple integration of metalens components with the spatial interleaving method. The simulated spatial interleaving metalens shows RGB achromatic operation with focusing efficiencies of 25.2%, 58.7%, and66.4% at the wavelengths of 450, 532, and 700 nm, respectively. A 450 μm diameter metalens operating at three designated wavelengths is fabricated with low-loss hydrogenated amorphous silicon. The fabricated metalens has the measured focusing efficiencies of 5.9%, 11.3%, and 13.6% at λ = 450, 532, and 700 nm, respectively. The Strehl ratios of 0.89, 0.88, and 0.82 are obtained at given wavelengths, which show a capability of diffractionlimited operation.

Solution-processable electrode-material embedding in dynamically inscribed nanopatterns(SPEEDIN)for continuous fabrication of durable flexible devices

A facile and scalable lithography-free fabrication technique,named solution-processable electrode-material embedding in dynamically inscribed nanopatterns(SPEEDIN),is developed to produce highly durable electronics.SPEEDIN uniquely utilizes a single continuous flow-line manufacturing process comprised of dynamic nanoinscribing and metal nanoparticle solution coating with selective embedding.Nano-and/or micro-trenches are inscribed into arbitrary polymers,and then an Ag nanoparticle solution is dispersed,soft-baked,doctor-bladed,and hard-baked to embed Ag micro-and nanowire structures into the trenches.Compared to lithographically embossed metal structures,the embedded SPEEDIN architectures can achieve higher durability with comparable optical and electrical properties and are robust and power-efficient even under extreme stresses such as scratching and bending.As one tangible application of SPEEDIN,we demonstrate a flexible metal electrode that can operate at 5 V at temperatures up to 300℃even under the influence of harsh external stimuli.SPEEDIN can be applied to the scalable fabrication of diverse flexible devices that are reliable for heavy-duty operation in harsh environments involving high temperatures,mechanical deformations,and chemical hazards.

Arbitrarily structured quantum emission with a multifunctional metalens

Structuring light emission from single-photon emitters(SPEs)in multiple degrees of freedom is of great importance for quantum information processing towards higher dimensions.However,traditional control of emission from quantum light sources relies on the use of multiple bulky optical elements or nanostructured resonators with limited functionalities,constraining the potential of multi-dimensional tailoring.Here we introduce the use of an ultrathin polarisation-beam-splitting metalens for the arbitrary structuring of quantum emission at room temperature.Owing to the complete and independent polarisation and phase control at the single meta-atom level,the designed metalens enables simultaneous mapping of quantum emission from ultra-bright defects in hexagonal boron nitride and imprinting of an arbitrary wavefront onto orthogonal polarisation states of the sources.The hybrid quantum metalens enables simultaneous manipulation of multiple degrees of freedom of a quantum light source,including directionality,polarisation,and orbital angular momentum.This could unleash the full potential of solid-state SPEs for their use as high-dimensional quantum sources for advanced quantum photonic applications.