Harnessing Metasurfaces for Advanced Optical Metrology

Abstract

Optical metrology has played a crucial role in the advancement of science and technology. In optical metrology, the fundamental properties of light are skillfully employed as information carriers, enabling accurate measurement of numerous physical quantities. However, conventional optical metrology systems have typically involved a suite of different optical components, which make them bulky and difficult for chip-scale integration. Recently, the emerging metasurfaces have provided a revolutionary solution for powerful and integrated optical metrology, which showcase advantages well beyond conventional devices. Here, we review the latest cutting-edge in exciting field of metasurface-based metrology, ranging from classical to quantum realms. We describe in detail both the fundamental principles and typical metrology strategies for measuring different physical quantities, including wavelength, polarization, phase, displacement, and refractive index. Prominent examples of such technologies in presented applications such as optical imaging, photonic spectrometers, micro sensors and quantum interferometers have been thoroughly discussed. We also discuss and outlook the challenges and opportunities on this emerging field.