Dual-Band Metasurface-Based Structured Light Generations for Futuristic Communication Applications.

Abstract

Structured beams carrying orbital angular momentum carry significant potential for various applications, including optical trapping, manipulations, communications, microscopy, and so on. Among these, perfect vortex (PV) beams are highly attractive due to their immunity to topological charge variations and nondiffracting properties. However, conventional PV beam generation methods typically operate at a single wavelength and rely on bulky components, complicating photonic device integration. To address this, a single-cell-driven, dual-band metasurface platform is experimentally demonstrated to generate nondiffracting PV beams spanning from UV to visible wavelengths (261-405 nm). The proposed metasurfaces, made of rectangular-shaped silicon nitride nanoantennas, achieve an average transmission efficiency of 65% across dual spectrums. Simulated and experimental results show that the metasurfaces maintain topological charge-insensitive ring radii. The findings highlight a novel approach for PV beam generations, which can lead to new categories of ultrathin optical devices for diverse applications, including wireless communication, particle trapping, and biomedical imaging.