Nanoscale beam splitters based on gradient metasurfaces

Quasi-Freeform Metasurfaces for Wide-Angle Beam Deflecting and Splitting

Metasurfaces attracted extensive interests due to their outstanding ability to manipulate the wavefront at a subwavelength scale. In this study, we demonstrated quasi-freeform metasurfaces in which the radius, location, and height of the nanocylinder building blocks were set as optimized structure parameters, providing more degrees of freedom compared with traditional gradient metasurfaces. Given a desired wavefront shaping objective, these structure parameters can be collectively optimized utilizing a hybrid optimized algorithm. To demonstrate the versatility and feasibility of our method, we firstly proposed metasurfaces with deflecting efficiencies ranging from 86.2% to 94.8%, where the deflecting angles can vary in the range of 29°-75.6°. With further study, we applied our concept to realize a variety of high-efficiency, wide-angle, equal-power beam splitters. The total splitting efficiencies of all the proposed beam splitters exceeded 89.4%, where a highest efficiency of 97.6%, a maximum splitting angle of 75.6°, and a splitting uniformity of 0.33% were obtained. Considering that various deflecting angles, and various splitting channels with different splitting angles, can be realized by setting the optical response of metasurfaces as the optimization target, we believe that our method will provide an alternative approach for metasurfaces to realize desired wavefront shaping.

Metasurface-based triple-band beam splitter with large spatial separation at visible wavelengths

The dual-function of a wavelength beam splitter and a power beam splitter is desired in both classical optics and quantum optics. We propose a triple-band large-spatial-separation beam splitter at visible wavelengths using a phase-gradient metasurface in both the x- and y-directions. Under x-polarized normal incidence, the blue light is split in the y-direction into two equal-intensity beams owing to the resonance inside a single meta-atom, the green light is split in the x-direction into another two equal-intensity beams owing to the size variation between adjacent meta-atoms, while the red light passes directly without splitting. The size of the meta-atoms was optimized based on their phase response and transmittance. The simulated working efficiencies under normal incidence are 68.1%, 85.0%, and 81.9% at the wavelengths of 420 nm, 530 nm, and 730 nm, respectively. The sensitivities of the oblique incidence and polarization angle are also discussed.

High-efficiency, four-channel beam splitter based on a fishnet-shaped continuous metasurface

Beam splitters play important roles in several optical systems. Due to the growing demand for the miniaturization of optical systems, it is necessary to design beam splitters with nanoscale dimensions to miniaturize the essential components for integrated optical circuits. In this work, we propose and numerically demonstrate a broadband, high efficient, and four-channel beam splitter based on a fishnet-shaped metasurface. The proposed structure is constructed of cruciform AlSb nanoantennas on the PDMS substrate. The simple design can split a beam of light into four beams with equal intensity, it achieves a conversion efficiency above 83%, and an anomalous transmission intensity exceeding 0.8 for the wavelength range of 761-835 nm. In this wavelength range, the beam splitting angle changes from 46.45° to 53.68°. Moreover, the four-channel beam splitter is tunable when the metasurface is designed as a discrete structure. At the wavelength of 874 nm, the beam splitting angle can be adjusted from 56.34° to 46.39° as the period increases from 1050 nm to 1207 nm by stretching the substrate. The presented metasurface might enable promising applications in integrated optical devices, owing to its advantages of multi-channel, wide broadband, high efficiency, and large beam split angle.

Ultra-Broadband and Highly Efficient Beam Splitter Based on Quasi-Continuous Metasurface in the Near-Infrared Region

Beam splitters are vital components in several optical systems. It is highly desirable, and compact beam splitters with ultra-broadband performances, high efficiencies, and large split angles are still being sought. In this paper, we demonstrate and numerically investigate an ultra-broadband and highly efficient optical beam splitter based on a quasi-continuous metasurface. The proposed design is constructed of quasi-continuous triangle-shaped gallium phosphide nanoantennas on a silica substrate. The simple structure can achieve a conversion efficiency and an anomalous transmission intensity above 90% and 0.8 covering the wavelength range of 1537-1826 nm, respectively. The maximum beam split angle in the operating bandwidth reaches 131.84° at the wavelength of 1826 nm. Particularly, the operating bandwidth is still as high as 125 nm with the anomalous transmission intensity above 0.92 and the conversion efficiency exceeding 99%. Moreover, the results show that the performance of the metasurface-based optical beam splitter can be further enhanced by optimizing structural parameters. We also demonstrate the adjustability of the beam splitter by adding refractive index (RI) materials on the surface of the device. The results show that the incident plane wave can be divided into three beams with intensity adjustability. The presented metasurface is very promising in the fields of multiplexers, interferometers, and optical communications, owing to its advantages of ultra-broadband, highly efficient, and large split angle simultaneously.

Examining and explaining the "generalized laws of reflection and refraction" at metasurface gratings

The widespread concept of "generalized laws of reflection and refraction" that is commonly applied to wave propagation through metasurfaces is thoroughly explained on the foundation of diffraction theory. This allows definition of strict constraints to the applicability of these generalized laws and highlights the underlying physical effects. A diffraction-based explanation of the reported phenomena is provided that yields a solid theoretical foundation for the prediction of experimental results and that clarifies many of the convoluted explanations found throughout the literature.

Design of Multifunctional Tunable Metasurface Assisted by Elastic Substrate

Metasurfaces with both multifunctionality and tunability hold great application potential in next-generation optical devices. In this paper, we propose a stretchable metasurface composed of arrays of identical dielectric rectangular resonators embedded in the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrate. It is shown that the metasurface possesses three functions at the operating wavelength of 532 nm. The switching of functions can be implemented by changing the period Px of the metasurface, induced by stretching the PDMS substrate along the x-direction. When the period Px is less than the operating wavelength of 532 nm, the behavior of metasurface can switch between transmissive window and reflective mirror. When the period Px of the metasurface varies from 532 nm to 700 nm, the metasurface act as a dynamic equal-power beam splitter with conversion efficiency higher than 90%, and the corresponding splitting angle can be adjusted from 90° to around 49.5°. Moreover, we achieve the switching of transmissive window/reflective mirror/split-ratio-variable splitter based on the metasurface consisting of arrays of identical L-shaped resonators embedded in the PDMS substrate.

Generation of arbitrarily directed split beams with a reflective metasurface

We present a new, to the best of our knowledge, formalism in the design of metasurface beamsplitters with arbitrarily chosen split beam directions. This technique is based on the well-established array theory; in particular the Fourier transform method of array synthesis, to cast an obliquely incident plane wave to multiple designer-selected scattering directions. To show the efficacy of this approach, a beamsplitting metasurface reflector is designed and verified experimentally and numerically. The metasurface is fabricated by screen-printing patterns of metallic rectangular-shaped resonators of conductive ink onto a ground plane-backed substrate. The beamsplitting characteristics are quantified using a simple free-space transmit/receive horn system operating at 10.525 GHz. It is shown that the presented design technique accurately predicts the scattering properties of the fabricated metasurface and is a useful method for electromagnetic wave manipulation.

Numerical analysis of an ultra-broadband and highly efficient beam splitter in the visible region

We report a quasi-continuous beam splitter with highly efficient equal-power beam splitting in a wide spectral range. It consists of rhombic aluminum antimonide nanorods standing on a silica substrate. Firstly, a beam splitter based on discrete structures is designed, and the structures are optimized to obtain the quasi-continuous beam splitter. The beam splitter achieves a splitting efficiency of over 80% within the region of 675-786 nm (bandwidth = 111 nm), where the splitting angle can vary in the range of 97.2°-121.8°. In particular, the splitting efficiency reaches 93.4% when the wavelength is 690 nm. Overall, the proposed beam splitter potentially paves the way for realizing broadband metasurfaces and high-performance quasi-continuous metasurface-based devices.

All-dielectric metasurface designs for spin-tunable beam splitting via simultaneous manipulation of propagation and geometric phases

Metasurfaces offer diverse wavefront control by manipulating amplitude, phase, and polarization of light which is beneficial to design subwavelength scaled integrated photonic devices. Metasurfaces based tunable circular polarization (CP) beam splitting is one functionality of interest in polarization control. Here, we propose and numerically realize metasurface based spin tunable beam splitter which splits the incoming CP beam into two different directions and tune the splitting angles by switching the handedness of incident light polarization. The proposed design approach has potential in applications such as optical communication, multiplexing, and imaging.

Analysis and design of two-dimensional compound metallic metagratings using an analytical method

The recently proposed concept of metagrating enables wavefront manipulation of electromagnetic (EM) waves with unitary efficiency and relatively simple fabrication requirements. Herein, two-dimensional (2D) metagratings composed of a 2D periodic array of rectangular holes in a metallic medium are proposed for diffraction pattern control. We first present an analytical method for diffraction analysis of 2D compound metallic metagrating (a periodic metallic structure with more than one rectangular hole in each period). Closed-form and analytical expressions are presented for the reflection coefficients of diffracted orders for the first time. Next, we verify the proposed method's results against full-wave simulations and demonstrate their excellent agreement. As a proof of principle, two applications are presented using the proposed analytical method. The first application is a perfect out-of-plane reflector that transfers a normal transverse-magnetic (TM) polarized plane wave to an oblique transverse-electric (TE) polarized plane wave in the y - z plane. The second one is a five-channel beam splitter with an arbitrary power distribution between channels. Using the proposed analytical method, we designed these metagratings without requiring even a single optimization in a full-wave solver. The performance of the designed metagratings is better than previously reported structures in terms of power efficiency and relative distribution error. Our analytical results reveal that 2D metagratings can be used for manipulating EM waves in the plane and out of the plane of incidence with very high efficiency, thereby leading to extensive applications in a wide range of frequencies from microwave to terahertz (THz) regimes.

Deep-subwavelength gap modes in all-dielectric metasurfaces for high-efficiency and large-angle wavefront bending

All-dielectric, phase-gradient metasurfaces manipulate light via a judiciously designed planar distribution of high and low refractive indices. In the established design approaches, the high-index elements play a dominant role, while the electromagnetic field existing between these elements is routinely viewed as either an incidental by-product or detrimental crosstalk. Here we propose an alternative approach that concentrates on exploring the low-index materials for wavefront shaping. In our Si metasurface, the low-index air gap between adjacent Si fins is judiciously tuned, while the high-index Si fins only have a single size across the whole metasurface. These gap modes provide the full 2π phase coverage, as well as high and relatively uniform transmission, at the deep-subwavelength scale. These characteristics are ideal for mapping a steep phase gradient, consequently suitable for high-efficiency and large-angle wavefront bending. This light manipulation capability is exemplified with numerical simulation in PW-SW (freely propagating wave to surface wave) conversion, where the wavefront is deflected by an angle of 90°. In the gap-mode meta-converters, the average unit size can be only 1/60 of free-space wavelength, an order of magnitude smaller than that of conventional all-dielectric metasurfaces. Their conversion efficiency can reach 68%, the highest value reported for any all-dielectric gradient metasurface THz converter.

Polarization-Insensitive Beam Splitter with Variable Split Angles and Ratios Based on Phase Gradient Metasurfaces

The beam splitter is a common and critical element in optical systems. Traditional beam splitters composed of prisms or wave plates are difficult to be applied to miniaturized optical systems because they are bulky and heavy. The realization of the nanoscale beam splitter with a flexible function has attracted much attention from researchers. Here, we proposed a polarization-insensitive beam splitter with a variable split angle and ratio based on the phase gradient metasurface, which is composed of two types of nanorod arrays with opposite phase gradients. Different split angles are achieved by changing the magnitude of the phase gradient based on the principle of Snell’s law of refraction, and different split ratios are achieved by adding a phase buffer with different areas. In the designed four types of beam splitters for different functions, the split angle is variable in the range of 12–29°, and the split ratio is variable in the range of 0.1–1. The beam splitter has a high beam splitting efficiency above 0.3 at the wavelength of 480–600 nm and a weak polarization dependence. The proposed beam splitter has the advantages of a small size and easy integration, and it can be applied to various optical systems such as multiplexers and interferometers for integrated optical circuits.

Continuous-zoom bifocal metalens by mutual motion of cascaded bilayer metasurfaces in the visible

Metalens, a subcategory of metasurfaces, has been widely investigated by virtue of its miniature and ultrathin characteristics as well as versatile functionalities. In this study, a tunable bifocal metalens with two continuous-zoom foci is proposed and numerically verified. This design utilizes two cascaded layers of metasurfaces, and different phase profiles for incidences of opposite helicities are imparted on each layer by the combination of geometric phase and propagation phase. When two layers of metasurfaces are actuated laterally, focal lengths of both foci are tuned continuously, with the difference of both focal lengths increasing or decreasing. Additionally, the zoom range for each focus can be designed at will, and the relative intensity of both foci can be modulated by altering the ellipticity of incidence, with the focusing efficiency of the bifocal metalens varying from 19.8% to 32.7% for numerical apertures in a range from 0.53 to 0.78. The proposed device is anticipated to find applications in multi-plane imaging, optical tomography technique, optical data storage, and so on.

Multifunctional tunable gradient metasurfaces for terahertz beam splitting and light absorption

Obtaining functional devices with tunable features is beneficial to advance terahertz (THz) science and technology. Here, we propose multifunctional gradient metasurfaces that are composed of a periodic array of binary Si microcylinders integrated with VO₂ and graphene. The metasurfaces act as transmittive (reflective) beamsplitters for the dielectric (metallic) phase of VO₂ with a switchable characteristic. Moreover, by integrating the metasurfaces with graphene and modifying its chemical potential, one can tune the intensity of the split beam as well as obtain nearly perfect resonant absorptions. Consequently, the proposed metasurfaces can find potential applications in THz interferometers, multiplexers, and light absorbers.

High-Efficiency, Dual-Band Beam Splitter Based on an All-Dielectric Quasi-Continuous Metasurface

Metasurface-based beam splitters attracted huge interest for their superior properties compared with conventional ones made of bulk materials. The previously reported designs adopted discrete metasurfaces with the limitation of a discontinuous phase profile. In this paper, we propose a dual-band beam splitter, based on an anisotropic quasi-continuous metasurface, by exploring the optical responses under x-polarized (with an electric field parallel to the direction of the phase gradient) and y-polarized incidences. The adopted metasurface consists of two identical trapezoidal silicon antenna arrays with opposite spatial variations that lead to opposite phase gradients. The operational window of the proposed beam splitter falls in the infrared and visible region, respectively, for x- and y-polarized light, resulting from the different mechanisms. When x-polarized light is incident, the conversion efficiency and total transmission of the beam splitter remains higher than 90% and 0.74 within the wavelength range from 969 nm to 1054 nm, respectively. In this condition, each array can act as a beam splitter of unequal power. For y-polarized incidence, the maximum conversion efficiency and transmission reach approximately 100% and 0.85, while the values remain higher than 90% and 0.65 in the wavelength range from 687 nm to 710 nm, respectively. In this case, each array can be viewed as an effective beam deflector. We anticipate that it can play a key role in future integrated optical devices.

Mechanism and performance analyses of optical beam splitters using all-dielectric oligomer-based metasurfaces

Compact and planar optical beam splitters are highly desirable in various optical and photonic applications. Here, we investigate two kinds of optical beam splitters by using oligomer-based metasurfaces, one is trimer-based metasurface for 3-dB beam splitting, and the other is pentamer-based metasurface for 1:4 beam splitting. Through electromagnetic multipole decomposition and in-depth mechanism analyses, we reveal that the electromagnetic multipolar interactions and the strong near-field coupling between neighboring nanoparticles play critical roles in beam-splitting performance. Our work offers a deeper understanding of electromagnetic coupling effect in oligomer-based metasurfaces, and provides an alternative approach to planar beam splitters.

Ultra-broadband large-angle beam splitter based on a homogeneous metasurface at visible wavelengths

Metasurface-based beam splitters with high efficiency, large split angle, wide bandwidth and easy fabrication are highly desirable and still in pursuit. In this paper, we propose a heuristic scheme for designing an ultra-broadband high-efficiency power beam splitter based on a homogeneous metasurface. The conversion efficiency and total transmission intensity of the power splitter stays higher than 95% and 0.66 within the wavelength region from 604 nm to 738 nm, respectively. Particularly, the conversion efficiency can maintain greater than 99% in 58 nm bandwidth. The angle between two split beams can reach a maximum of 157.82° at the wavelength of 738 nm. In addition to simplified design and easy fabrication, the proposed power beam splitter possesses high robustness as well. We expect that our design can pave a new way for realizing high-performance metasurface-based beam splitters.

Tunable beam splitter using bilayer geometric metasurfaces in the visible spectrum

Metasurfaces have been widely investigated for their capabilities of manipulating wavefront versatilely and miniaturizing traditional optical elements into ultrathin devices. In this study, a nanoscale tunable beam splitter utilizing a bilayer of geometric metasurfaces in the visible spectrum is proposed and numerically examined. Inspired by the diffractive Alvarez lens and multilayer geometric metasurfaces, opposite quadratic phase distributions are imparted on both layers, and a varying linear phase gradient will arise through relatively lateral displacement between two layers, generating tunable angles of deflection. In addition, such geometric metasurfaces offer opposite directions of phase gradients for orthogonal circularly polarized incidences, leading to effective polarization beam splitting. Results prove that the splitting angles can be tuned precisely, and the energy split ratio can be effectively changed according to the ellipticity of the polarized incidence. This design could find significant applications in optical communication, measurement, display, and so on.

Metasurface-enabled broadband beam splitters integrated with quarter-wave plate functionality

Conventional beam splitters and wave plates, while being essential components in diverse optical systems, require considerable space, especially when used in combination. Here, we designed and experimentally demonstrated metasurface-enabled efficient broadband beam splitters integrated with quarter-wave plate (QWP) functionality for simultaneous power splitting and circular-to-linear polarization conversion in the near-infrared range. By utilizing two different gap-plasmon meta-atoms, which function as QWPs performing efficient circular-to-linear polarization conversion and provide the phase difference of π between reflected linearly polarized beams, we designed a metasurface that completely suppress the specular reflection (zero-order diffraction) and second-order diffraction, while ensuring efficient and equal beam splitting of a circularly polarized wave into two reflected beams with predesigned directions and well-defined linear-polarization states in the wavelength range of 750-950 nm. The fabricated metasurface exhibits excellent performance of circular-to-linear conversion and power splitting, with efficient suppression of specular reflection (<1%) and splitting efficiencies above 50% for both right and left circularly polarized excitation at the design wavelength of λ = 850 nm. By enabling the combined functionalities of a conventional beam splitter and a QWP, our approach opens up new prospects for advanced research and applications targeting photonics integration and miniaturization.

Dynamic beam splitter employing an all-dielectric metasurface based on an elastic substrate

Beam splitters are an indispensable part of optical measurements and applications. We propose a dynamic beam splitter incorporating all-dielectric metasurface in an elastic substrate under external mechanical stimulus of stretching. The optical behavior at 720 nm wavelength shows that it can be changed from a pure optical-diode-like behavior to a dynamic beam splitter. Although the structure is designed running at 720 nm, the design approach with appropriate materials can be used at any wavelength. Various cases, including wavelength and polarization dependencies, are thoroughly investigated to demonstrate the principles of operating conditions of two different regimes of the designed metasurface.

High-purity polarized multi-beams from polarization-twisting meta-surface Cassegrain systems

Bi-functional meta-surfaces capable of simultaneously controlling polarization states and wave-fronts of electromagnetic fields are introduced into the design of Cassegrain system for the synthesis of multi-beams. More specifically, electromagnetic fields reflected by the secondary meta-surface with tailored diverged wave-fronts would be collimated by the primary meta-surface into multi-beams with transformed polarization states that can directly go through the secondary meta-surface without any blockage. Especially, we show that such a polarization-twisting meta-surface Cassegrain system can possess much more compact configuration by properly devising the phase distribution over the secondary meta-surface, and can also achieve high-purity polarized multiple radiations when we enlarge the secondary meta-surface as a radome. The present approach of integrating two bi-functional meta-surfaces into the design of Cassegrain system for the generation of multi-beams should pave the way for building up more advanced meta-surface based architectures with specific characteristics.

Ultra-Thin Metamaterial Beam Splitters

Here, we present blueprints for three types of ultra-thin beam splitters based on versatile fishnet metamaterial structures at the 1.55 μ m optical communication wavelength. The thicknesses of the designed polarizing beam splitter and partially polarizing beam splitter are 1/26 of the free-space wavelength, while the thickness of the non-polarizing beam splitter is 1/13 of the free-space wavelength. Numerical simulations show that, compared to other miniaturization approaches including popular dielectric metasurfaces, metal-based metamaterial approach can provide much thinner beam splitters with reasonable performance. Such beam splitters can enable miniaturization of conventional and advanced quantum photonic systems towards higher density, scalability, and functionality.

Spectrometer based on parallel-plate waveguides utilizing abnormal transmission

We designed a new, simple device based on parallel-plate waveguides (PPWGs) utilizing abnormal transmission to achieve the analogous function of a terahertz spectrometer. The phase gradient of the PPWGs is π/mm, and the designed wavelength is 0.3 THz. When abnormal transmission occurs, the position of outgoing light changes with the wavelength of the incident light with a quadratic function relationship, which can realize the terahertz spectrometer. The effect of different polarization was verified to be negligible when the polarization angle was 0-10°. The PPWG-based spectrometer has the advantages of simple structure and easy fabrication and can further help the development of terahertz technology.

Dual-wavelength multifunctional metadevices based on modularization design by using indium-tin-oxide

Combining two or several functionalities into a single metadevice is of significant importance and attracts growing interest in recent years. We here introduce the concept of modularization design in dual-wavelength multifunctional metadevice, which is composed of a lower metasurface and an upper metasurface with an indium-tin-oxide (ITO) layer. Benefiting from the fact that ITO holds high infrared (IR) reflection while transparence at visible wavelengths, the metadevice can work in reflection and transmission modes at two very distinct wavelengths, one is 2365 nm in the IR band and the other 650 nm in the visible range. More interestingly and importantly, the two metasurface layers with different functionalities are easy to flexibly integrate into a series of dual-wavelength multifunctional metadevices, with negligible interaction between them and no need of re-designing or re-optimizing their structure parameters. Based on modularization design and functional integration, four kinds of dual-wavelength multifunctional metadevices are demonstrated, which can perform reflective deflection/focusing at 2365 nm and transmissive deflection/focusing at 650 nm. We believe our work may open a straight-forward and flexible way in designing multi-wavelength multifunctional metadevices and photonic integrated devices.

Mitigating Chromatic Dispersion with Hybrid Optical Metasurfaces

Metasurfaces control various properties of light via scattering across a large number of subwavelength-spaced nanostructures. Although metasurfaces appear to be ideal photonic platforms for realizing and designing miniaturized devices, their chromatic aberrations have hindered the large-scale deployment of this technology in numerous applications. Wavelength-dependent diffraction and resonant scattering effects usually limit their working operation wavelengths. In refractive optics, chromatic dispersion is a significant problem and is generally treated by cascading multiple lenses into achromatic doublets, triplets, and so on. Recently, broadband achromatic metalenses in the visible have been proposed to circumvent chromatic aberration but their throughput efficiency is still limited. Here, the dispersion of refractive components is corrected by leveraging the inherent dispersion of metasurfaces. Hybrid refractive-metasurface devices, with nondispersive refraction in the visible, are experimentally demonstrated. The dispersion of this hybrid component, characterized by using a Fourier plane imaging microscopy setup, is essentially achromatic over about 150 nm in the visible. Broadband focusing with composite plano-convex metasurface lenses is also proposed. These devices could find applications in numerous consumer optics, augmented reality components, and all applications including imaging for which monochromatic performance is not sufficient.

Reconfigurable metasurface for multiple functions: magnitude, polarization and phase modulation

A novel reconfigurable metasurface for multiple functions is designed and investigated. The lattice of the metasurface is proposed to realize integrated absorption and polarization rotation and named as polarization conversion absorber (PCA). Then, lattices are arranged together to realize a certain function. Due to the independence of each lattice, the metasurface can present different performance based on different arrangement principle. Magnitude, polarization and phase modulation can be presented by manually arranging metasurface with 6 × 6 lattices. Both simulations and measurements prove that the proposed method provides a simple, flexible and effective strategy for multifunctional metasurface design.

Polarization-insensitive beam splitters using all-dielectric phase gradient metasurfaces at visible wavelengths

Beam splitters play important roles in several optical applications, such as interferometers, spectroscopy, and optical communications. In this study, we propose and numerically examine polarization-insensitive beam splitters utilizing two-step phase gradient all-dielectric metasurfaces in the visible spectrum. The metasurface is made of periodically arranged binary unit cells, and phase difference between neighboring unit cells on the surface is 180 deg. The metasurface is shown to have a special phase gradient whose sign changes periodically. The angle of the split beams on both sides and the corresponding total transmission value at 532 nm wavelength are found to be ±46.8° and 0.90, respectively.

Geometric metasurface enabling polarization independent beam splitting

A polarization independent holographic beam splitter that generates equal-intensity beams based on geometric metasurface is demonstrated. Although conventional geometric metasurfaces have the advantages of working over a broad frequency range and having intuitive design principles, geometric metasurfaces have the limitation that they only work for circular polarization. In this work, Fourier holography is used to overcome this limitation. A perfect overlap resulting from the origin-symmetry of the encoded image enables polarization independent operation of geometric metasurfaces. The designed metasurface beam splitter is experimentally demonstrated by using hydrogenated amorphous silicon, and the device performs consistent beam splitting regardless of incident polarizations as well as wavelengths. Our device can be applied to generate equal-intensity beams for entangled photon light sources in quantum optics, and the design approach provides a way to develop ultra-thin broadband polarization independent components for modern optics.