Versatile Polarization Generation and Manipulation Using Dielectric Metasurfaces

Abstract Advances in polarization optics and integrated photonics require fundamentally new polarization‐managing strategies allowing for efficient generation and complete control over vectorial fields with well‐defined polarization states using surface‐confined configurations with ultracompact footprints and extended bandwidths. Recently, metasurfaces have been extensively explored to demonstrate compact planar devices enabling diverse polarization control. However, the main drawback of the state‐of‐the‐art metasurface‐based polarization converters is related to their limitations resulting in individual simple functionalities and low‐efficiencies. Here, the strategy for producing dielectric metasurfaces that efficiently generate diversified polarization states with controllable wavefronts and high efficiencies over a broadband spectrum range from a linearly‐polarized light source by generalizing an existing theory of simultaneous phase and polarization control with birefringent meta‐atoms, is demonstrated. Advanced polarization and wavefront manipulation functionalized to realize an efficient polarization‐resolved multifocal metalens and vectorial holographic display is accomplished using judiciously designed dielectric metasurfaces composed of segmented sub‐arrays capable of manipulating, simultaneously and independently, both polarization and phase of the transmitted beams. The versatility of this concept provides opportunities to develop a complete set of flat polarization optics for integrated photonics and quantum optics.