Abstract
The manipulation and characterization of light polarization states are essential for many applications in quantum communication and computing, spectroscopy, bioinspired navigation, and imaging. Chiral metamaterials and metasurfaces facilitate ultracompact devices for circularly polarized light generation, manipulation, and detection. Herein, we report bioinspired chiral metasurfaces with both strong chiral optical effects and low insertion loss. We experimentally demonstrated submicron-thick circularly polarized light filters with peak extinction ratios up to 35 and maximum transmission efficiencies close to 80% at near-infrared wavelengths (the best operational wavelengths can be engineered in the range of 1.3–1.6 µm). We also monolithically integrated the microscale circular polarization filters with linear polarization filters to perform full-Stokes polarimetric measurements of light with arbitrary polarization states. With the advantages of easy on-chip integration, ultracompact footprints, scalability, and broad wavelength coverage, our designs hold great promise for facilitating chip-integrated polarimeters and polarimetric imaging systems for quantum-based optical computing and information processing, circular dichroism spectroscopy, biomedical diagnosis, and remote sensing applications.
Highlights
Polarized light (CPL) has been widely used in quantum communication[1], quantum computing[2,3], circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy[4], and polarimetric imaging and sensing[5,6,7]
The R8 cell acts as a quarter waveplate (QWP) to convert Circularly polarized light (CPL) to linearly polarized light (LPL)
We introduce an angle of ±45° between the fast axis of the metasurface QWP and the axis of the lower polarizing nanograting; the mirror symmetry is broken in these double-layer chiral metasurface structures
Summary
Polarized light (CPL) has been widely used in quantum communication[1], quantum computing[2,3], circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy[4], and polarimetric imaging and sensing[5,6,7]. CP light detection requires multiple bulky optical elements such as polarizers, waveplates, and mechanically rotating components[8], which poses fundamental limitations for device miniaturization, robust system integration, and high-speed operation. Organic chiral molecules have been proposed for miniaturization of CPL detection devices, such as liquid crystals (LCs)[9,10], chiral dyes[11], and helicene-based chiral semiconductor transistors[12]. Compared with organic chiral molecules, nanostructure-based devices generally exhibit superior stability in ambient conditions, fast response time, and high fidelity. Artificial threedimensional (3D) metamaterials have been produced based on chiral L-shaped[22], helical[20,24,25,26], and spiral[21] nanostructures to differentiate the handedness of CPL
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