Equivalent Circuit Models of a Bifunctional Optical Metasurface for Beam Splitting and Refractive Index Sensing

Abstract

Metasurfaces have attracted extensive attention in the micro/nano-optics field depending on their significant ability to modulate optical parameters. However, the current numerical simulation technology cannot meet the demand of the design and analysis of metasurfaces efficiently due to consuming substantial calculating time and memory. Besides, they cannot illustrate the physical mechanism straightforwardly behind the optical responses. Herein, we propose and demonstrate two equivalent circuit models systematically for a bifunctional metasurface with metal–dielectric–metal structural meta-atoms based on polarization multiplexing in the visible band. In the y-polarization state, the equivalent circuit model is established to interpret the phase shift exactly with a high goodness of fit of 0.931, resulting in the beam splitting function from the anomalous reflection phenomenon. The polychromatic light splits from 34 to 69° to produce the grating-type high-saturation structural colors with a large gamut of about 170.07% of the DCI-P3 standard. In the x-polarization state, the metasurface produces the surface lattice resonance that is suitable for the refractive index sensing function due to the high sensitivity to environmental changes. The second equivalent circuit model simulates the linewidth narrowing and red-shift phenomenon with a sensitivity relative error of 7.00%. We introduce a branch with a narrow-band-pass filter and a capacitor in series into the model to mimic the characteristic of Rayleigh anomalies. Both models extend the application of equivalent circuit theory in optics further and provide a crucial approach to enhance the insights into the mechanism of metasurfaces.