Optical Angle Barcodes Enabled by a Pixelated Metasurface for Absolute Micro-Angle Measurement

Efficient and ultra-sensitive measurements of micro-angle are critical technological requirements in various fields. Traditional measurement approaches have disadvantages in terms of accuracy and system complexity. Here, a micro-angle measurement scheme based on the pixelated metasurface is reported. By utilizing the interaction between a C-band optical frequency comb (OFC) laser source and the plasmonic metasurface, precise angle encoding is achieved, enabling each meta-pixel within the pixelated metasurface to exhibit ultra-sensitive responses to angular changes. Experimental results demonstrate a resolution as low as 2.8 μrad for angle sensing. Furthermore, by controlling the dimensions of the meta-atom structural dimensions and designing specific combinations of meta-pixels, the unique angle response of individual pixels is manipulated, effectively creating an angle barcode. This technique allows for highly efficient acquisition of angle information, and based on this, it demonstrates absolute angle measurement with an average error at 7 μrad. The robustness and stability of the proposed scheme is also evaluated.