Metasurfaces for generating higher-order Poincaré beams by polarization-selective focusing and overall elimination of co-polarization components

Abstract

Focused higher-order Poincaré (HOP) beams are of particular interest because they facilitate understanding the exotic properties of structured light and their applications in classical physics and quantum information. However, generating focused HOP beams using metasurfaces is challenging. In this study, we proposed a metasurface design comprising two sets of metal nanoslits for generating coaxially focused HOP beams. The nanoslits were interleaved on equispaced alternating rings. The initial rings started at the two adjacent Fresnel zones to provide opposite propagation phases for overall elimination of the co-polarization components. With the designed hyperbolic and helical profiles of the geometric phases, the two vortices of the opposite cross-circular-polarizations were formed and selectively focused, realizing HOP beams of improved quality. Simulations and experimental results demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed metasurface design. This study is of significance in the integration of miniaturized optical devices and enriches the application areas of metasurfaces.