Optical metamaterial for polarization control

We present the design, characterization, and modeling of a specific optical metamaterial, and employ it to manipulate the light polarizations at optical frequencies. Experimental results reveal that the maximum polarization conversion efficiency, i.e., the energy portion converted from s to p polarization after reflection, can be as high as 96% at the wavelength of ~685 nm. Simulations and analytical results, which are in reasonable agreements with the experimental results, reveal that the underlying physics are governed by the particular electric and magnetic resonances in the optical metamaterial.