Ultracompact Integrated Huygens’ Meta-Splitters

Abstract

Power splitters are fundamental components for optical signal routing in photonic integrated circuits (PICs). Conventional power splitters, such as Y-branches, directional couplers, and multimode interferometers rely on nonresonant waveguiding effects, like index matching, mode coupling, and interference, which limit their design freedom for arbitrary and multiport light splitting in ultracompact footprints. Recent advancements in dielectric metasurfaces have opened new possibilities for compact on-chip devices. Here, based on Huygens’ meta-waveguides, we numerically and experimentally demonstrate efficient 1 × N (N = 2,3,4) power splitting in ultracompact footprints with low insertion loss. Particularly for 1 × 2 splitters, arbitrary power splitting can be realized by adjusting the relative positions of Huygens’ resonators without requiring full structural reoptimization. These designs utilize efficient light manipulation through nanoantennas and have potential for large-scale PICs, including applications in optical computing.