Generating optical orbital angular momentum at visible wavelengths using a plasmonic metasurface

Light beams with a helical phase-front possess orbital angular momentum along their direction of propagation in addition to the spin angular momentum that describes their polarisation.Until recently,it was thought that these two‘rotational’motions of light were largely independent and could not be coupled during light–matter interactions.However,it is now known that interactions with carefully designed complex media can result in spin-to-orbit coupling,where a change of the spin angular momentum will modify the orbital angular momentum and vice versa.In this work,we propose and demonstrate that the birefringence of plasmonic nanostructures can be wielded to transform circularly polarised light into light carrying orbital angular momentum.A device operating at visible wavelengths is designed from a space-variant array of subwavelength plasmonic nano-antennas.Experiment confirms that circularly polarised light transmitted through the device is imbued with orbital angular momentum of 62"(with conversion efficiency of at least 1%).This technology paves the way towards ultrathin orbital angular momentum generators that could be integrated into applications for spectroscopy,nanoscale sensing and classical or quantum communications using integrated photonic devices.

Scalable and controlled self-assembly of aluminum-based random plasmonic metasurfaces

Subwavelength metal-dielectric plasmonic metasurfaces enable light management beyond the diffraction limit.However,a costeffective and reliable fabrication method for such structures remains a major challenge hindering their full exploitation.Here,we propose a simple yet powerful manufacturing route for plasmonic metasurfaces based on a bottom-up approach.The fabricated metasurfaces consist of a dense distribution of randomly oriented nanoscale scatterers composed of aluminum(Al)nanohole-disk pairs,which exhibit angle-independent scattering that is tunable across the entire visible spectrum.The macroscopic response of the metasurfaces is controlled via the properties of an isolated Al nanohole-disk pair at the nanoscale.In addition,the optical field confinement at the scatterers and their random distribution of sizes result in a strongly enhanced Raman signal that enables broadly tunable excitation using a single substrate.This unique combination of a reliable and lithography-free methodology with the use of aluminum permits the exploitation of the full potential of random plasmonic metasurfaces for diagnostics and coloration.

Polarization-insensitive unidirectional spoof surface plasmon polaritons coupling by gradient metasurface

A polarization-insensitive unidirectional spoof surface plasmon polariton（SPP） coupler mediated by a gradient metasurface is proposed. The field distributions and average Poynting vector of the coupled spoof SPPs are analyzed. The simulated and experimental results support the theoretical analysis and indicate that the designed gradient metasurface can couple both the parallel-polarized and normally-polarized incident waves to the spoof SPPs propagating in the same direction at about 5 GHz.

An electrically tunable metasurface integrated with graphene for mid-infrared light modulation

We propose a low-cost plasmonic metasurface integrated with single-layer graphene for dynamic modulation of midinfrared light. The plasmonic metasurface is composed of an array of split magnetic resonators（MRs） where a nano slit is included. Extraordinary optical transmission（EOT） through the deep subwavelength slit is observed by excitation of magnetic plasmons in the split MRs. Furthermore, the introduction of the slit provides strongly enhanced fields around the graphene layer, leading to a large tuning effect on the EOT by changing the Fermi energy of the graphene. The proposed metasurface can be utilized as an optical modulator with a broad modulation width（15 μm） or an optical switch with a high on/off ratio（〉 100）. Meanwhile, the overall thickness of the metasurface is 430 nm, which is tens of times smaller than the operating wavelength. This work may have potential applications in mid-infrared optoelectrical devices and give insights into reconfigurable flat optics and optoelectronics.

Fabrication of Polarization Control Devices Using Metal Grating Structures

A polarization control device was developed using a plasmonic metasurface with the aim of achieving the desired polarization state. In this study, the Ag metal grating structure was fabricated as a plasmonic metasurface by electron beam lithography and a lift-off process. The phase difference of the fabricated sample was 21.0°. This value is almost consistent with the simulation (24.0°). Then, the transmission and phase difference is dependent on the structural parameter. Because of the propagation of surface plasmon polariton at the interface between Ag and SiO2 or Ag and air, it is believed that the transmittance and the phase difference for TM polarized light can be controlled by the structural parameters. By plotting on the Poincaré sphere after calculating the S-parameter by simulation, it is clear that the arbitrary polarization status can be controlled by the structural parameter.

Nonlinear chiral metaphotonics:a perspective

We review the physics and some applications of photonic structures designed for the realization of strong nonlinear chiroptical response.We pay much attention to the recent strategy of utilizing different types of optical resonances in metallic and dielectric subwavelength structures and metasurfaces,including surface plasmon resonances,Mie resonances,lattice-guided modes,and bound states in the continuum.We summarize earlier results and discuss more recent developments for achieving large circular dichroism combined with the high efficiency of nonlinear harmonic generation.