Abstract
We report on the first demonstration of a proof-of-principle optical fiber ‘meta-tip’, which integrates a phase-gradient plasmonic metasurface on the fiber tip. For illustration and validation purposes, we present numerical and experimental results pertaining to various prototypes implementing generalized forms of the Snell’s transmission/reflection laws at near-infrared wavelengths. In particular, we demonstrate several examples of beam steering and coupling with surface waves, in fairly good agreement with theory. Our results constitute a first step toward the integration of unprecedented (metasurface-enabled) light-manipulation capabilities in optical-fiber technology. By further enriching the emergent ‘lab-on-fiber’ framework, this may pave the way for the widespread diffusion of optical metasurfaces in real-world applications to communications, signal processing, imaging and sensing.
Highlights
Metamaterials are artificial composites, which attain their distinctive properties from a careful structural arrangement of dielectric and/or metallic subwavelength-sized constituents, rather than their chemical composition[1]
We report on the first demonstration of a proof-of-principle optical fiber ‘meta-tip’, which integrates a phase-gradient plasmonic metasurface on the fiber tip
Over the past 15 years, they have received an exponentially growing interest in many scientific and engineering fields, as a possible route to achieve unconventional light-matter interaction effects, as well as unprecedented field-manipulation capabilities via proper spatial tailoring of the constitutive parameters[4]. In spite of such extremely promising prospects, the practical applications of metamaterials to optics and photonics remain limited, mainly due to the significant technological challenges posed by the fabrication process of three-dimensional (3-D) bulk nanostructures[5,6,7]
Summary
Metamaterials are artificial composites, which attain their distinctive properties from a careful structural arrangement of dielectric and/or metallic subwavelength-sized constituents, rather than their chemical composition[1]. Over the past 15 years, they have received an exponentially growing interest in many scientific and engineering fields, as a possible route to achieve unconventional light-matter interaction effects (such as ‘negative’ refraction[2] and ‘superlensing’3), as well as unprecedented field-manipulation capabilities via proper spatial tailoring of the constitutive parameters[4]. In spite of such extremely promising prospects, the practical applications of metamaterials to optics and photonics remain limited, mainly due to the significant technological challenges posed by the fabrication process of three-dimensional (3-D) bulk nanostructures[5,6,7]. ‘flat’ optics and photonics[25,26,27] constitute a very promising research thrust, with a plethora of potential applications to various fields, ranging from imaging to computing[28,29,30,31,32,33]
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