Cylindrical metalens for multidimensional control of terahertz waves

Abstract

Metalens, consisting of planar micro/nanostructure arrays, has shown great potentials in beam steering, subwavelength focusing and high-resolution imaging. Taking the advantages of ultrathin thickness and compact design, it can be integrated with a photonic chip to improve the collection efficiency of optoelectronic systems. However, it remains challenging to realize the multidimensional control of terahertz (THz) waves by using a metalens, although the convergence properties have been widely studied. Here, we design and experimentally demonstrate a multifunctional cylindrical metalens by using a tri-layer metallic metasurface. By modulating the amplitude, phase and polarization states of terahertz waves independently, the cylindrical metalens can generate two focal lines at different positions for transmitted x- and y- polarized terahertz waves with varying amplitude distribution. Importantly, up to 64.7% focusing efficiency has been obtained at the frequency of 0.34 THz with a numerical aperture (NA) of 0.75. Our study offers a novel method for implementing multifunctional cylindrical metalens which lays the foundation of advanced integration with arrayed terahertz detection chips.