Demonstration of > 2π reflection phase range in optical metasurfaces based on detuned gap-surface plasmon resonators

Abstract

Abstract Plasmonic metasurfaces, representing arrays of gap-surface plasmon (GSP) resonators and consisting of arrays of metal nanobricks atop thin dielectric layers supported by thick metal films, constitute an important subclass of optical metasurfaces operating in reflection and enabling the realization of numerous, diverse and multiple, functionalities. The available phase variation range is however limited to being $$<\! 2\pi$$ < 2 π , a circumstance that complicates the metasurface design for functionalities requiring slowly varying phases over the whole range of $$2\pi$$ 2 π , e.g., in holographic applications. The available phase range also determines the wavelength bandwidth of metasurfaces operating with linearly polarized fields due to the propagation (size-dependent) nature of the reflection phase. We suggest an approach to extend the phase range and bandwidth limitations in the GSP-based metasurfaces by incorporating a pair of detuned GSP resonators into a metasurface elementary unit cell. With detailed simulations related to those for conventional single-resonator metasurfaces and proof-of-concept experiments, we demonstrate that the detuned-resonator GSP metasurfaces designed for beam steering at $${900}\,\,\hbox {nm}$$ 900 nm wavelength exhibit the extended reflection phase and operation bandwidth. We believe that the considered detuned-resonator GSP metasurfaces can advantageously be exploited in applications requiring the design of arbitrary phase gradients and/or broadband operation with linearly polarized fields.