High-Order Dielectric Metasurfaces for High-Efficiency Polarization Beam Splitters and Optical Vortex Generators

Nanoscale Res Lett. 2017 Aug 29;12(1):512. doi: 10.1186/s11671-017-2279-2.

Abstract

In this paper, a high-order dielectric metasurface based on silicon nanobrick array is proposed and investigated. By controlling the length and width of the nanobricks, the metasurfaces could supply two different incremental transmission phases for the X-linear-polarized (XLP) and Y-linear-polarized (YLP) light with extremely high efficiency over 88%. Based on the designed metasurface, two polarization beam splitters working in high-order diffraction modes have been designed successfully, which demonstrated a high transmitted efficiency. In addition, we have also designed two vortex-beam generators working in high-order diffraction modes to create vortex beams with the topological charges of 2 and 3. The employment of dielectric metasurfaces operating in high-order diffraction modes could pave the way for a variety of new ultra-efficient optical devices.

Keywords: Beam splitters; Metasurface; Optical vortices; Phase modulation.