High efficiency and broad bandwidth terahertz vortex beam generation based on ultra-thin transmission Pancharatnam–Berry metasurfaces

The terahertz(THz) vortex beam generators are designed and theoretically investigated based on single-layer ultra-thin transmission metasurfaces. Noncontinuous phase changes of metasurfaces are obtained by utilizing Pancharatnam–Berry phase elements, which possess different rotation angles and are arranged on two concentric rings centered on the origin.The circularly polarized incident THz beam could be turned into a cross-polarization transmission wave, and the orbital angular momentum(OAM) varies in value by lh. The l values change from ±1 to ±5, and the maximal cross-polarization conversion efficiency that could be achieved is 23%, which nearly reaches the theoretical limit of a single-layer structure.The frequency range of the designed vortex generator is from 1.2 THz to 1.9 THz, and the generated THz vortex beam could keep a high fidelity in the operating bandwidth. The propagation behavior of the emerged THz vortex beam is analyzed in detail. Our work offers a novel way of designing ultra-thin and single-layer vortex beam generators, which have low process complexity, high conversion efficiency and broad bandwidth.     

Multi-function terahertz wave manipulation utilizing Fourier convolution operation metasurface

We propose a novel metasurface based on a combined pattern of outer C-shaped ring and inner rectangular ring. By Fourier convolution operation to generating different predesigned sequences of metasurfaces, we realize various functionalities to flexible manipulate terahertz waves including vortex terahertz beam splitting, anomalous vortex terahertz wave deflection, vortex terahertz wave splitting and deflection simultaneously. The incident terahertz wave can be flexibly controlled in a single metasurface. The designed metasurface has an extensive application prospect in the field of future terahertz communication and sensing.     

基于编码超表面的太赫兹宽频段雷达散射截面缩减的研究

本文设计了一种柔性, 非定向低散射的1bit编码超表面, 实现了太赫兹宽频带雷达散射截面的缩减. 这种设计基于对“0”和“1”两种基本单元进行编码, 其反射相位差在很宽的频段范围内接近180°, 为一种非周期的排列方式, 该电磁超表面使入射的电磁波发生漫反射, 从而实现雷达散射截面的缩减. 全波仿真结果表明, 在垂直入射条件下, 编码超表面的镜像反射率低于-10 dB的带宽频段范围为1.0-1.4 THz, 该带宽内超表面相对同尺寸金属板可将雷达散射截面所减量达到10 dB以上, 最大缩减量达到19 dB. 把柔性编码表面弯曲在直径为4 mm的金属圆柱面上, 雷达散射截面的所减量高于10 dB以上的带宽频段范围为0.9-1.2 THz, 仍然可实现宽频带缩减特性. 总之, 编码超表面为调控太赫兹波提供一种新的途径, 将在雷达隐身、成像、宽带通信等方面具有重要的意义.     

Switchable vortex beam polarization state terahertz multi-layer metasurface

We propose a switchable vortex beam polarization state terahertz multi-layer metasurface, which consists of three-layer elliptical metal crosses, four-layer dielectrics, and two-layer hollow metal circles, which are alternately superimposed. Under the normal incidence of left-handed circularly polarized (LCP) wave and the right-handed circularly polarized (RCP) waves, the proposed structure realizes three independent control functions, i.e., focused and vortex beam, vortex beam with different topological charges, and polarization states switching, and azimuth switching of two vortex beams with different polarization states. The results show that the proposed metasurface provides a new idea for investigating the multifunctional terahertz wave modulation devices.     

Asymmetrical photonic spin Hall effect based on dielectric metasurfaces

The photonic spin Hall effect has attracted considerable research interest due to its potential applications in spin-controlled nanophotonic devices. However, realization of the asymmetrical photonic spin Hall effect with a single optical element is still a challenge due to the conjugation of the Pancharatnam-Berry phase, which reduces the flexibility in various applications. Here, we demonstrate an asymmetrical spin-dependent beam splitter based on a single-layer dielectric metasurface exhibiting strong and controllable optical response. The metasurface consists of an array of dielectric nanofins, where both varying rotation angles and feature sizes of the unit cells are utilized to create high-efficiency dielectric metasurfaces, which enables to break the conjugated characteristic of phase gradient. Thanks to the superiority of the phase modulation ability, when the fabricated metasurface is under normal incidence with a wavelength of 1550 nm, the left-handed circular polarization (LCP) light exhibits an anomalous refraction angle of 28.9°, while the right-handed circular polarization (RCP) light transmits directly. The method we proposed can be used for the flexible manipulation of spin photons and has potentials in high efficiency metasurfaces with versatile functionalities, especially with metasurfaces in a compact space.     

一种光可调的多功能太赫兹几何相位超表面北大核心CSCD

基于金属-光敏硅组合圆环提出了一种光可调太赫兹超表面,可用于实现多功能的波前操控。该超表面单元由正反两面的结构层和中间介质层组成,其中结构层是开口方向相反的金属环,开口处由光敏硅进行填充。在光照强度较低时,超表面可以将入射的圆极化波转换为交叉极化的透射波;随着光照强度升高,透射波将逐渐被完全抑制。根据几何相位原理,通过旋转金属-光敏硅组合圆环,透射的交叉极化波会携带额外的相位因子,并可实现完全的2π范围相位覆盖。通过合理排列超表面单元结构,可以对透射波的波前实现任意操控。利用提出的光可调超表面,在较低光照条件下实现了高效的异常折射、透镜以及轨道角动量产生器;在较高光照条件下,抑制了其透射效率,可有条件地选择应用功能,表现出较好的灵活性。提出的光可调超表面在太赫兹成像、通信、雷达等方面具有较大的潜在应用价值。     

Multifunction switching by a flat structurally tunable acoustic metasurface for transmitted waves

In this paper a flat structurally tunable acoustic metasurface is constructed based on the helical unit cell. The length of the acoustic channel can be tuned by the screw-in depth of the helix. Accordingly, the wave phase for the transmitted acoustic wave can be tuned and the wavefront can be manipulated. Then multifunctions such as anomalous refraction, point focusing, beam focusing and self-bending can be realized and switched just by screwing in or out the helixes. At the same time, the broadband operating frequency is also realized. The experiments for anomalous refraction and point focusing are also performed, and the results show that the designed metasurface is effective. The present studies have important applications in dynamic manipulation of acoustic waves by metasurfaces.     

Characteristic Attributes of Multiple Cascaded Terahertz Metasurfaces with Magnetically Tunable Subwavelength Resonators

The characteristics of multiple cascaded metasurfaces comprising H‐shaped, magnetostatically controllable, subwavelength terahertz (THz) resonators made of InAs were systematically investigated, using a commercial solver based on the finite‐integration method, for the design of tunable filters. Three configurations of the biasing magnetostatic field were compared with each other as well as with the bias‐free configuration for filtering of normally incident linearly polarized plane waves. A close study of only one metasurface was found sufficient to broadly determine the sensitivity to the direction of the magnetostatic field and the bandwidth of a stopband. Furthermore, the effects of metasurface geometry and biasing field can be considered separately for initial design purposes. All features in the transmittance spectra for the bias‐free configuration that are related to the number of cascaded metasurfaces are also observed when the biasing magnetostatic field is applied. The coupling of adjacent metasurfaces in a cascade is strongly affected by the relative permittivity and the thickness of the spacer between the two metasurfaces. The spectral locations of stopbands scale with respect to the spacer's relative permittivity, the scaling rule being different from a classical one. The stopbands are redshifted when the spacer thickness is increased, with the redshift dependent on the polarization of the incident plane wave. Inter‐metasurface coupling and inter‐resonator coupling on the same metasurface affect the spectral location of a stopband in opposite ways. On‐off type switching can be obtained by changing the orientation of magnetostatic field. The elucidated characteristics are expected to be important for not only filters but also other tunable THz devices.     

光在Metasurface中的自旋-轨道相互作用

探讨了光在Metasurface中的自旋-轨道相互作用, 理论分析了Metasurface 对圆偏振和线偏振光的转换. 结果表明: 光与具有空间非均匀性和各向异性性的Metasurface的相互作用导致了自旋-轨道角动量的耦合. 采用Metasurface与螺旋相位片组合在一起进行了验证实验, 所得实验结果与理论分析完全一致. 这些结论有助于我们更加深入理解Metasurface 对光的操控.     

太赫兹频率编码器

超表面是由亚波长单元组成控制电磁波的人工结构,研究发现通过对其进行编码排列可实现对电磁波能量的任意控制.本文利用四种形状相同、尺寸不同的人字形结构单元,结合其不同相位响应和不同的相位灵敏度设计了太赫兹频率编码器,通过进行特定编码,在频率改变的情况下,实现了对电磁波能量辐射调控.分别设计了1-bit, 2-bit周期和非周期太赫兹频率编码器,通过数值计算和仿真模拟验证了上述特性,而且该结构对太赫兹波辐射主瓣能量有很好的分散作用,可以有效减少雷达散射截面,雷达散射截面缩减在q=0,j=0方向上最大可达29 dB,在太赫兹波隐身中具有巨大应用价值.     

基于双开口谐振环超表面的宽带太赫兹涡旋光束产生

提出了一种基于双开口谐振环单元结构超表面的太赫兹宽带涡旋光束产生器.该结构由金属-电介质两层构成,位于顶层的是基于双开口谐振环单元结构的超表面,底层为介质层.对单元结构阵列进行数值仿真,圆偏振的入射光可以被转换成相应的交叉偏振透射光,通过旋转表层金属谐振环,可以控制交叉偏振透射光具有相同的振幅和不同的相位.这些单元结构按照特定的规律排列,可以形成用以产生不同拓扑荷数的涡旋光束的涡旋相位板.以拓扑荷数1和2为例,设计了两种涡旋相位板,数值分析了圆偏振波垂直入射到该涡旋相位板生成交叉圆偏振涡旋光束的特性.结果表明,在1.39—1.91 THz的频率范围内产生了比较理想的不同拓扑荷数的涡旋光束,且透过率高于20%,最高可达到24%,接近单层透射式超表面的理论极限值.     

宽入射角度偏振不敏感高效异常反射梯度超表面

偏振不敏感超表面在实际应用中具有重要意义, 本文提出了一种光通信波段的、对偏振不敏感的异常反射式梯度超表面, 这种超表面对于x-偏振和y-偏振入射光都能够实现高效率的异常反射, 表现出偏振不敏感特性, 为解决传统反射式超表面的偏振敏感性问题提供了一种新途径. 它采用金属(Au)-绝缘层(SiO₂)-金属(Au)结构, 超表面的超晶胞由五个各向同性的、尺寸不同的十字形基本结构单元组成. 仿真结果表明, 这种超表面结构对不同线偏振入射平面光波有几乎相同的相位和振幅响应; 合理的选取五个基本结构单元的尺寸, 在一个超晶胞内实现了2πup 相位的覆盖, 反射光波阵面畸变小, 而且反射光都集中到异常反射级次, 在工作波长1480 nm处具有较高的异常反射率(～ 70%). 此外, 这种结构的超表面在-30°–0°的宽入射角度范围内都具有偏振不敏感的异常反射特性. 在光通信、光信号处理、显示成像等领域具有潜在的应用前景.     

超薄宽带平面聚焦超表面及其在高增益天线中的应用

针对相位梯度超表面在灵活操控电磁波与提高天线增益中的潜在应用,提出一种新型的宽带超表面单元,实现了在较宽频带范围内操控电磁波波前与提高天线增益.本文首先设计了一种圆环十字形对称单元来控制反射波的相移量,单元厚度为1 mm,尺寸为0.3λ_0(λ_0=20 mm),工作频段15—18 GHz,而后验证了由该单元组成的相位梯度超表面在15—18 GHz范围内对电磁波的奇异反射与聚焦特性.最后将设计的反射聚焦超表面应用于提高天线增益中,仿真与测试结果均表明,天线最高增益在15—18 GHz内平均增加了11 d B且-1 dB增益带宽为15—18 GHz(相对带宽为18.2%).由于厚度薄、重量轻、频带宽,设计的该单元拓展了相位梯度超表面在微波领域的应用,有望为高增益天线的实现提供新的方法.     

基于石墨烯的太赫兹波散射可调谐超表面

设计了一个可调谐的太赫兹超表面,由在随机反射超表面基底中嵌入可偏置的双层石墨烯构成,可以实现对太赫兹波散射特性的动态调控.全波仿真试验结果证实了所预期的超表面散射可调性能.通过增大偏置电压提升石墨烯的费米能级,使得该超表面的太赫兹波散射样式从漫反射逐渐向镜面反射过渡,从而实现散射特性的连续调控,且该超表面具有对电磁波极化角度不敏感的特点.这些特性使得该超表面能很好地融合到变化的环境中,在太赫兹隐身方面具有潜在的应用价值.     

宽频带雷达散射截面缩减相位梯度超表面的设计及实验验证

针对相位梯度超表面在隐身技术中的应用,提出通过表面波耦合和异常反射两种机制复合实现宽频带后向雷达散射截面(RCS)缩减,采用开口谐振环进行相位梯度设计,实现了一种二维极化无关相位梯度超表面,在10 GHz附近,超表面通过将垂直入射电磁波耦合为表面波实现RCS缩减,而在大于11 GHz的频率范围内,相位分布的不均匀性使垂直入射的电磁波发生漫反射或者异常反射,降低后向RCS,制作了厚度为2 mm的超表面样品,测试了其反射率曲线和后向RCS,并与相同尺寸的金属板进行了对比,实验结果表明,在宽频段内(9.5—17.0 GHz),超表面在垂直入射情况下可将后向RCS缩减至少10 dB,由于厚度薄、重量轻、频带宽,RCS缩减超表面在隐身新材料和新技术方面具有很大的应用潜力。     

All-silicon chiral metasurfaces and wavefront shaping assisted by interference

Chiral metasurfaces have different electromagnetic responses with circularly polarized lights, showing as circular dichroism and optical activity. Here, a novel kind of all-silicon chiral metasurface is proposed by introducing destructive interference between achiral meta-atoms. The maximum value of circular dichroism spectra can reach 0.49. By adding an antireflective layer at the side of the silicon substrate, the maximum circular dichroism reaches 0.54. What is more, the bandwidth of circular dichroism greater than 0.4 reaches 0.15 THz. Two samples are fabricated to verify the feasibility of this scheme, and the experimental results are in good agreement with the simulations. In addition, the proposed scheme can also be used to generate various interesting functions, such as beam control and vortex generator. This flexible and efficient implementation solution of chiral metasurface can bring new ideas to the development of chiral devices in the future.     

Highly efficient mid-infrared metasurface based on metallic rods and plate

Metasurface is a new kind of 2D metamaterial that is able to manage a variety of light beam modulations through steering the phase of the scattering waves. In this work,we utilize the metasurface to manipulate the light beam in the mid-infrared regime. By using the metallic rod and the plate structure,the metasurface presents a high polarization conversion efficiency and a wide working bandwidth. With specially rotated metallic rods,the metasurface can realize various light beam manipulations,such as negative reflection,beam collimation,and focusing.All of these results show that such a metasurface will have potential applications in future mid-infrared optics.     

All-Dielectric Multichannel Terahertz Metasurface Empowering Independent Wavefront Manipulation

Metasurfaces have demonstrated unprecedented capabilities in modulating the polarization and phase of electromagnetic waves and formed an emerging field of research, driving the exploitation of versatile compact devices. In this work, one transmission-mode, multichannel all-silicon metasurface platform that can implement functionalities separately in two orthogonally polarized output fields under linearly polarized incidences is proposed, which can effectively promote the design flexibility. Specifically, a single metasurface can realize multiple independent target phase distributions carrying specific phase relationships, thus enabling different information processing in different linear polarization states. For proof-of-principle experimental exhibitions, a monolayer metasurface composed of silicon pillars is designed, fabricated, and characterized to demonstrate the ability of multi-dimensional light field control, such as polarization-switchable focusing beam. Moreover, the other designed metasurface can generate polarization-switchable Bessel vortex beams under linearly polarized incidences, which also verifies the flexibility and practicality of such platform. This metasurface platform may lead to new optical components, involving multichannel singular beam generators, information encoders, and holographic encryption devices.     

Transmission Reflection Integrated Programmable Metasurface for Real-Time Beam Control and High Efficiency Transmission Polarization Conversion

The functional versatility and flexibility of multifunctional metasurfaces are of great significance for the application of electromagnetic (EM) metasurfaces in military stealth, holographic imaging, base station antennas, and other fields. Nevertheless, the functions of active programmable coding multifunctional metasurfaces are mostly reflective or transmissive, and the research on active multifunctional metasurfaces with transmission and reflection integration is still in its infancy. Here, a transmission reflection integrated active programmable coding metasurface is proposed to manipulate the transmission and reflection of different polarized electromagnetic waves independently in real time. As a proof of concept, a metasurface that can implement diverse programmable functionalities is designed. Numerical and experimental results indicate that the strategy has excellent performance in beam control and polarization conversion, which provides tremendous potential for extending highly integrated multifunctional devices.