Phase singularities are loci of darkness surrounded by light in a scalar field. We engineer an array of closely-spaced identical point singularities structured along the optic axis. The array is experimentally realized with a TiO2 metasurface under 760 nm narrowband illumination. We study possible application in blue-detuned neutral atom trap arrays, for which this field would enforce 3D confinement and a potential depth around 0.22 mK per watt of trapping power. The field is tolerant to around 10 nm changes in wavelength with a 0.11 degree angular bandwidth. Metasurface-enabled point singularity engineering may simplify and miniaturize the architecture required for super-resolution microscopes and dark traps.
Metasurfaces are composed of arrays of subwavelength nanopillars which, owing to their strong form birefringence, provide an innovative platform to realize novel polarization control. Using matrix Fourier optics, phase retrieval principles, and Jones calculus, we propose and implement a general design strategy to enable polarization holograms with user-specified polarization responses, in the far-field. We fabricate these metasurface holograms (for operation at visible wavelengths) and test them with Mueller matrix polarimetry, showing good agreement with designs. This unprecedented polarization control in the far-field should enable applications in many areas, including in digital displays, augmented and virtual reality, structured illumination, and machine vision.
Recent advances in wavefront shaping have enabled new classes of structured light, leading to new phenomena and applications. We review current progress in these areas with focus on meta-optics that exhibit a tunable response at the output by simply changing the properties of incident light; including input polarization, orbital angular momentum, angle of incidence, and/or wavelength. Multifunctional devices of this kind rely on intricate light-matter interaction at the level of meta-atoms which can be difficult to replicate using other wavefront shaping tools. In addition, we present a new class of holograms — dubbed holographic light sheets — for generating 3D structured light and discuss its potential use in AR/VR applications. Lastly, we highlight new directions in generating time-varying optical vortices using dispersion-engineered metasurfaces and discuss its future applications.
We propose a new class of computer generated holograms whose far fields possess designer-specified polarization response. We dub these Jones matrix holograms. We provide a simple procedure for their implementation using form-birefringent metasurfaces. Jones matrix holography generalizes a wide body of past work with a consistent mathematical framework, particularly in the field of metasurfaces, and suggests previously unrealized devices, examples of which are demonstrated here. In particular, we show holograms whose far-fields implement parallel polarization analysis and custom waveplate-like behavior. This work may suggest interesting new possibilities for polarimetry and optical systems generally.
Recent advances in wavefront shaping have led to new classes of structured light; hence, uncovering novel phenomena and facilitating new applications. We review recent progress in these areas and highlight our efforts in structuring all degrees of freedom of light; including the phase, amplitude, polarization state, and orbital angular momentum of light both in three-dimensional space and time. Notably, we showcase scenarios in which the propagation dynamics of structured vector beams are governed by a topological phase factor (i.e., the Berry phase) in addition to the regular propagation phase. This in turn redefines basic phenomena in optics encountered by these beams; such as Snell’s law, phase matching and resonance conditions. We finally present new directions in creating time-varying near-field structures using frequency-gradient plasmonic based devices.
Recent work on beams with light structured along the propagation direction will be presented, where the polarization and the OAM of the beam changed along the propagation direction.
Optical singularities are dark regions of a light field that exhibit rich and nonintuitive behaviors such as local wavenumbers that far exceed the light field wavenumber. For example, helical beams have a one dimensional singularity along the axis of the optical vortex where the phase is undetermined. We demonstrate that both phase and polarization singularities can be engineered and that in addition to the common one-dimensional string-like topologies, we can produce a broader family of 0D (point) and 2D (sheet) singularities. As a potential application, we design an array of point singularities to serve as identical blue-detuned cold atom traps with three-dimensional confinement. Singularity engineering imbues microscale wavefront engineering tools with the ability to produce exotic forms of light deterministically and on-demand and has wide applicability to other wave-like systems in physics.
Metasurfaces are arrays of artificially engineered subwavelength nanostructures. Owing to the strong form birefringence of these nanostructures, metasurfaces provide a fascinating platform to realize novel polarization optics. Recently, we propose and implement a general design strategy for polarization-dependent holograms with metasurfaces, using Fourier optics and phase retrieval principles applied to the Jones calculus. We use this to design metasurface holograms with arbitrarily chosen polarization responses. We fabricate these gratings (for operation at visible wavelengths) and test them with Mueller matrix polarimetry, showing agreement with design.
Metasurfaces are arrays of artificially engineered subwavelength nanostructures. Owing to the strong form birefringence of these nanostructures, metasurfaces provide a fascinating platform to realize novel polarization optics. Recently, we proposed a more general design strategy for polarization-dependent metasurfaces using Fourier optics principles applied to the Jones calculus. We use this to design metasurface devices with arbitrarily chosen polarization responses embedded on diffraction orders, such as polarizers, waveplates, and cases that are mixtures of the two. We fabricate these gratings (for operation at visible wavelengths) and test them with Mueller matrix polarimetry, showing agreement with design.
Metasurfaces may be structured with anisotropic constituent elements, leading to form birefringence. In recent years, these devices have enabled a variety of new polarization-dependent optical elements. The most general of these are holograms; a wide variety of polarization-dependent holograms have been demonstrated with metasurfaces, including those that can be switched by an arbitrarily specified basis of (in general) elliptical polarization states. In this presentation, we will thoroughly review work of this nature. In doing so, we will show that the design freedom afforded by form-birefringent metasurfaces to produce polarization-dependent holograms has not been fully exploited: metasurfaces may be used to produce what we dub “Jones matrix holograms”, in which the polarization response is not limited to an orthogonal basis of polarization states. Examples of these are shown.
We experimentally demonstrate a class of non-diffracting beams with state of polarization (SoP) and intensity that can both be controlled along the propagation direction. The beams are composed of a superposition of equal frequency co-propagating Bessel beams (BBs) with different transverse and longitudinal wavenumbers. The BBs are weighted by suitable complex coefficients derived from closed-form analytic expressions. The desired polarization states (i.e., linear, radial, azimuthal and elliptical) are each independently encoded onto a set of BBs with the suitable polarizations. For experimental generation, the resulting field is decomposed into two orthogonal polarizations (horizontal and vertical). Via constructive (and destructive) interference of BBs, specific SoPs can be designed to switch on (and off) during propagation. This effectively alters the resultant SoP and intensity of the beam throughout propagation. We envision our proposed method to be of great interest in many applications, such as optical tweezers, atom guiding, material processing, microscopy, and optical communications.
We present an experimental demonstration of a class of beams, namely Frozen Waves, that can carry predetermined longitudinal intensity profiles in the presence of modeled loss. These waveforms consist of a superposition of equal frequency Bessel beams with different transverse and longitudinal wavenumbers, and are generated using a programmable spatial light modulator addressed by computer-generated hologram. Attenuation-resistant Frozen Waves can address challenges associated with light-matter interaction in absorbing media encountered in imaging, remote sensing, and particle micro-manipulation, to name a few.
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