Metasurfaces control polarized light at will
New research unlocks the hidden potential of metasurfaces

Date:
August 13, 2021
Source:
Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Summary:
Researchers have uncovered hidden potential in metasurfaces
and demonstrated optical devices that manipulate light's
polarization state with an unprecedented degree of control. The
research demonstrates a new way to control polarized light with
metasurfaces. This new approach -- in which the researchers can
engineer a holographic image with a polarization-tunable response
across the image itself -- could lead to applications in diverse
fields including imaging, microscopes, displays, and even astronomy.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
For years, researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of
Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have engineered metasurfaces
to manipulate light based on its polarization state. That research has contributed to advances in polarization technology -- but metasurface technology has proven more powerful than even the researchers themselves realized.


==========================================================================
Now, researchers have uncovered hidden potential in these metasurfaces
and, in a new paper, demonstrated optical devices that manipulate light's polarization state with an unprecedented degree of control.

"This research shows that the ability to switch between holographic
images that need not be limited to just two polarization states," said
Federico Capasso, the Robert L. Wallace Professor of Applied Physics
and Vinton Hayes Senior Research Fellow in Electrical Engineering at
SEAS and senior author of the paper. "Our new metasurface can encode
an unlimited number of holographic images or manipulate light in
virtually infinite number of directions based on a very large number
of polarization states." The research, published in Science Advances, demonstrates a new way to control polarized light with metasurfaces. This
new approach -- in which the researchers can engineer a holographic image
with a polarization-tunable response across the image itself -- could
lead to applications in diverse fields including imaging, microscopes, displays, and even astronomy.

"This advancement is general and could be applied to almost any kind of
optical system that uses polarized light," said Noah Rubin, a postdoctoral fellow at SEAS and first author of the paper. "Specifically, this suggests
that metasurfaces could be used in new types of laser systems whose
output light could be engineered based on light's polarization state,
or perhaps even in telescope systems where similar types of optics are
already being used to aid in the detection of Earth-like exoplanets." "Holography has always been a popular technique to record and display information," said Aun Zaidi, a graduate student at SEAS and co-lead
author of the paper. "We have taken a fundamental principle of holography
and generalized it in a way that greatly expands the information capacity
of this rather old technique." Next, the researchers aim to understand
these devices better, including how they could be used in real-world applications.

The Harvard Office of Technology Development has protected the
intellectual property relating to this project and is exploring commercialization opportunities.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Harvard_John_A._Paulson_School_of_Engineering_and_Applied
Sciences. Original written by Leah Burrows. Note: Content may be edited
for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Noah A. Rubin, Aun Zaidi, Ahmed H. Dorrah, Zhujun Shi, Federico
Capasso.

Jones matrix holography with metasurfaces. Science Advances, 2021;
7 (33): eabg7488 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abg7488 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/08/210813180712.htm

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