Dynamically controlling terahertz wavefronts with cascaded metasurfaces

Dynamically controlling terahertz(THz)wavefronts in a designable fashion is highly desired in practice.However,available methods working at microwave frequencies do not work well in the THz regime due to lacking suitable tunable elements with submicrometer sizes.Here,instead of locally controlling individual meta-atoms in a THz metasurface,we show that rotating different layers(each exhibiting a particular phase profile)in a cascaded metadevice at different speeds can dynamically change the effective Jonesmatrix property of the whole device,thus enabling extraordinary manipulations on the wavefront and polarization characteristics of a THz beam impinging on the device.After illustrating our strategy based on model calculations,we experimentally demonstrate two proof-of-concept metadevices,each consisting of two carefully designed all-silicon transmissive metasurfaces exhibiting different phase profiles.Rotating two metasurfaces inside the fabricated devices at different speeds,we experimentally demonstrate that the first metadevice can efficiently redirect a normally incident THz beam to scan over a wide solid-angle range,while the second one can dynamically manipulate both the wavefront and polarization of a THz beam.Our results pave the way to achieving dynamic control of THz beams,which is useful in many applications,such as THz radar,and bio-and chemical sensing and imaging.

Giant photonic spin Hall effect in momentum space in a structured metamaterial with spatially varying birefringence

The photonic spin Hall effect(SHE)in the reflection and refraction at an interface is very weak because of the weak spin-orbit interaction.Here,we report the observation of a giant photonic SHE in a dielectric-based metamaterial.The metamaterial is structured to create a coordinate-dependent,geometric Pancharatnam–Berry phase that results in an SHE with a spin-dependent splitting in momentum space.It is unlike the SHE that occurs in real space in the reflection and refraction at an interface,which results from the momentum-dependent gradient of the geometric Rytov–Vladimirskii–Berry phase.We theorize a unified description of the photonic SHE based on the two types of geometric phase gradient,and we experimentally measure the giant spin-dependent shift of the beam centroid produced by the metamaterial at a visible wavelength.Our results suggest that the structured metamaterial offers a potential method of manipulating spin-polarized photons and the orbital angular momentum of light and thus enables applications in spin-controlled nanophotonics.

Interference-assisted kaleidoscopic meta-plexer for arbitrary spin-wavefront manipulation

Achieving simultaneous polarization and wavefront control,especially circular polarization with the auxiliary degree of freedom of light and spin angular momentum,is of fundamental importance in many optical applications.Interferences are typically undesirable in highly integrated photonic circuits and metasurfaces.Here,we propose an interference-assisted metasurface-multiplexer(meta-plexer)that counterintuitively exploits constructive and destructive interferences between hybrid meta-atoms and realizes independent spin-selective wavefront manipulation.Such kaleidoscopic meta-plexers are experimentally demonstrated via two types of single-layer spinwavefront multiplexers that are composed of spatially rotated anisotropic meta-atoms.One type generates a spinselective Bessel-beam wavefront for spin-down light and a low scattering cross-section for stealth for spin-up light.The other type demonstrates versatile control of the vortex wavefront,which is also characterized by the orbital angular momentum of light,with frequency-switchable numbers of beams under linearly polarized wave excitation.Our findings offer a distinct interference-assisted concept for realizing advanced multifunctional photonics with arbitrary and independent spin-wavefront features.A variety of applications can be readily anticipated in optical diodes,isolators,and spin-Hall meta-devices without cascading bulky optical elements.

Deterministic Approach to Achieve Full-Polarization Cloak

Achieving full-polarization(σ)invisibility on an arbitrary three-dimensional(3D)platform is a long-held knotty issue yet extremely promising in real-world stealth applications.However,state-of-the-art invisibility cloaks typically work under a specific polarization because the anisotropy and orientation-selective resonant nature of artificial materials made theσ-immune operation elusive and terribly challenging.Here,we report a deterministic approach to engineer a metasurface skin cloak working under an arbitrary polarization state by theoretically synergizing two cloaking phase patterns required,respectively,at spin-up(σ+)and spin-down(σ−)states.Therein,the wavefront of any light impinging on the cloak can be well preserved since it is a superposition ofσ+andσ−wave.To demonstrate the effectiveness and applicability,several proof-of-concept metasurface cloaks are designed to wrap over a 3D triangle platform at microwave frequency.Results show that our cloaks are essentially capable of restoring the amplitude and phase of reflected beams as if light was incident on a flat mirror or an arbitrarily predesigned shape under full polarization states with a desirable bandwidth of~17.9%,conceiving or deceiving an arbitrary object placed inside.Our approach,deterministic and robust in terms of accurate theoretical design,reconciles the milestone dilemma in stealth discipline and opens up an avenue for the extreme capability of ultrathin 3D cloaking of an arbitrary shape,paving up the road for real-world applications.

Developing hierarchical CdS/NiO hollow heterogeneous architectures for boosting photocatalytic hydrogen generation

The hierarchical binary CdS/NiO hollow heterogeneous architectures(HHAs)with p–n heterojunction are constructed by a facile microwave-assisted wet chemical process for high-efficient photocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction(HER)from water.The as-designed CdS/NiO HHAs are composed of hexagonal n-type CdS nanoparticles with a size in the range of 20–40 nm attaching to cubic p-type NiO hollow microspheres(HMSs)which are aggregates of porous nanoplates with a thickness of about 20 nm.The photocatalytic water splitting over CdS/NiO HHAs is significantly increased under simulated solar irradiation,among which the most active sample of CdS/NiO-3(the mass ratio of CdS to NiO is 1:3)exhibits the fastest photocatalytic HER rate of 1.77 mmol∙g^(−1)∙h^(−1),being 16.2 times than that of pure CdS.The boosted photocatalytic HER could be attributed to the synergistic effect on the proportional p–n heterojunction with special hierarchical hollow and porous morphology,an enhancement of visible light absorption,and an improvement of photoinduced charge separation as well as the photo-stability given by the composite heterojunction.This work shows a viable strategy to design the heterojunction with special morphology for the efficient hydrogen generation by water splitting utilizing solar energy.

Polarization evolution of vector beams generated by q-plates

The polarization evolution of vector beams(VBs) generated by q-plates is investigated theoretically and experimentally.An analytical model is developed for the VB created by a general quarter-wave q-plate based on vector diffraction theory.It is found that the polarization distribution of VBs varies with position and the value q.In particular,for the incidence of circular polarization,the exit vector vortex beam has polarization states that cover the whole surface of the Poincarésphere,thereby constituting a full Poincarébeam.For the incidence of linear polarization,the VB is not cylindrical but specularly symmetric,and exhibits an azimuthal spin splitting.These results are in sharp contrast with those derived by the commonly used model,i.e.,regarding the incident light as a plane wave.By implementing q-plates with dielectric metasurfaces,further experiments validate the theoretical results.

Photonic spin Hall effect on the surface of anisotropic two-dimensional atomic crystals

We examine the spin-orbit interaction of light and photonic spin Hall effect on the surface of anisotropic two-dimensional atomic crystals. As an example, the photonic spin Hall effect on the surface of black phosphorus is investigated. The photonic spin Hall effect manifests itself as the spin-dependent beam shifts in both transverse and in-plane directions. We demonstrate that the spin-dependent shifts are sensitive to the orientation of the optical axis, doping concentration, and interband transitions. These results can be extensively extended to other anisotropic two-dimensional atomic crystals. By incorporating the quantum weak measurement techniques, the photonic spin Hall effect holds great promise for detecting the parameters of anisotropic two-dimensional atomic crystals.