Gradient metasurfaces are two-dimensional optical elements capable of manipulating light by imparting local, space-variant phase changes on an incident electromagnetic wave. These surfaces have thus far been constructed from nanometallic optical antennas, and high diffraction efficiencies have been limited to operation in reflection mode. We describe the experimental realization and operation of dielectric gradient metasurface optical elements capable of also achieving high efficiencies in transmission mode in the visible spectrum. Ultrathin gratings, lenses, and axicons have been realized by patterning a 100-nanometer-thick Si layer into a dense arrangement of Si nanobeam antennas. The use of semiconductors can broaden the general applicability of gradient metasurfaces, as they offer facile integration with electronics and can be realized by mature semiconductor fabrication technologies.

Dielectric gradient metasurface optical elements.

Metamaterials are composed of periodic subwavelength metal/dielectric structures that resonantly couple to the electric and/or magnetic components of the incident electromagnetic fields, exhibiting properties that are not found in nature. This class of micro- and nano-structured artificial media have attracted great interest during the past 15 years and yielded ground-breaking electromagnetic and photonic phenomena. However, the high losses and strong dispersion associated with the resonant responses and the use of metallic structures, as well as the difficulty in fabricating the micro- and nanoscale 3D structures, have hindered practical applications of metamaterials. Planar metamaterials with subwavelength thickness, or metasurfaces, consisting of single-layer or few-layer stacks of planar structures, can be readily fabricated using lithography and nanoprinting methods, and the ultrathin thickness in the wave propagation direction can greatly suppress the undesirable losses. Metasurfaces enable a spatially varying optical response (e.g. scattering amplitude, phase, and polarization), mold optical wavefronts into shapes that can be designed at will, and facilitate the integration of functional materials to accomplish active control and greatly enhanced nonlinear response. This paper reviews recent progress in the physics of metasurfaces operating at wavelengths ranging from microwave to visible. We provide an overview of key metasurface concepts such as anomalous reflection and refraction, and introduce metasurfaces based on the Pancharatnam-Berry phase and Huygens' metasurfaces, as well as their use in wavefront shaping and beam forming applications, followed by a discussion of polarization conversion in few-layer metasurfaces and their related properties. An overview of dielectric metasurfaces reveals their ability to realize unique functionalities coupled with Mie resonances and their low ohmic losses. We also describe metasurfaces for wave guidance and radiation control, as well as active and nonlinear metasurfaces. Finally, we conclude by providing our opinions of opportunities and challenges in this rapidly developing research field.

A review of metasurfaces: physics and applications.

The stability of two-dimensional (2D) layers and membranes is subject of a long standing theoretical debate. According to the so called Mermin-Wagner theorem, long wavelength fluctuations destroy the long-range order for 2D crystals. Similarly, 2D membranes embedded in a 3D space have a tendency to be crumpled. These dangerous fluctuations can, however, be suppressed by anharmonic coupling between bending and stretching modes making that a two-dimensional membrane can exist but should present strong height fluctuations. The discovery of graphene, the first truly 2D crystal and the recent experimental observation of ripples in freely hanging graphene makes these issues especially important. Beside the academic interest, understanding the mechanisms of stability of graphene is crucial for understanding electronic transport in this material that is attracting so much interest for its unusual Dirac spectrum and electronic properties. Here we address the nature of these height fluctuations by means of straightforward atomistic Monte Carlo simulations based on a very accurate many-body interatomic potential for carbon. We find that ripples spontaneously appear due to thermal fluctuations with a size distribution peaked around 70 \AA which is compatible with experimental findings (50-100 \AA) but not with the current understanding of stability of flexible membranes. This unexpected result seems to be due to the multiplicity of chemical bonding in carbon.

Intrinsic ripples in graphene

Conventional optical tweezers, formed at the diffraction-limited focus of a laser beam, have become a powerful and flexible tool for manipulating micrometre-sized objects. Extending optical trapping down to the nanometre scale would open unprecedented opportunities in many fields of science, where such nano-optical tweezers would allow the ultra-accurate positioning of single nano-objects. Among the possible strategies, the ability of metallic nanostructures to control light at the subwavelength scale can be exploited to engineer such nano-optical traps. This Review summarizes the recent advances in the emerging field of plasmon-based optical trapping and discusses the details of plasmon tweezers along with their potential applications to bioscience and quantum optics.

Plasmon nano-optical tweezers

Holographic techniques provide phase and amplitude information for images of objects, but normally the hologram thickness is comparable to the light wavelength used. Ni et al. present ultra-thin plasmonic holograms that control amplitude and phase in the visible region and are just 30 nm thick.

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Metasurface holograms for visible light

In the quest to miniaturise photonics, it is of paramount importance to control light at the nanoscale. We reveal the main physical mechanism responsible for operation of gap plasmon-based gradient metasurfaces, comprising a periodic arrangement of metal nanobricks, and suggest that two degrees of freedom in the nanobrick geometry allow one to independently control the reflection phases of orthogonal light polarisations. We demonstrate, both theoretically and experimentally, how orthogonal linear polarisations of light at wavelengths close to 800 nm can be manipulated independently, efficiently and in a broad wavelength range by realising polarisation beam splitters and polarisation-independent beam steering, showing at the same time the robustness of metasurface designs towards fabrication tolerances. The presented approach establishes a new class of compact optical components, viz., plasmonic metasurfaces with controlled gradient birefringence, with no dielectric counterparts. It can straightforwardly be adapted to realise new optical components with hitherto inaccessible functionalities.

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Gap plasmon-based metasurfaces for total control of reflected light

We demonstrate plasmonic color printing with subwavelength resolution using circular gap-plasmon resonators (GPRs) arranged in 340 nm period arrays of square unit cells and fabricated with single-step electron-beam lithography. We develop a printing procedure resulting in correct single-pixel color reproduction, high color uniformity of colored areas, and high reproduction fidelity. Furthermore, we demonstrate that, due to inherent stability of GPRs with respect to surfactants, the fabricated color print can be protected with a transparent dielectric overlay for ambient use without destroying its coloring. Using finite-element simulations, we uncover the physical mechanisms responsible for color printing with GPR arrays and suggest the appropriate design procedure minimizing the influence of the protection layer.

Subwavelength plasmonic color printing protected for ambient use.

We demonstrate experimentally a periodic array of differently-sized and circularly-shaped gap plasmon resonators (GPRs) with the average absorption ~94% for unpolarized light in the entire visible wavelength range (400-750nm). Finite-element simulations verify that the polarization insensitive broadband absorption originates from localized gap surface plasmons whose resonant excitations only weakly depend on the angle of incidence. Arrays of GPRs also exhibit enhanced local field intensities (~115) as revealed by scanning two-photon photoluminescence microscopy, that are spectrally correlated with the minima in corresponding linear reflection spectra.

Efficient absorption of visible radiation by gap plasmon resonators

We demonstrate that a pair of perpendicular electrical dipolar scatterers resonating at different frequencies can be used as a metamaterial unit cell to construct a nanometer-thin retarder in reflection, designing nanocross and nanobrick plasmonic configurations to function as reflecting quarter-wave plates at ~1520 and 770 nm, respectively. The design is corroborated experimentally with a monolayer of gold nanobricks, transforming linearly polarized incident radiation into circularly polarized radiation at ~780 nm.

Plasmonic metamaterial wave retarders in reflection by orthogonally oriented detuned electrical dipoles

We demonstrate both theoretically and experimentally that a gold nanostrip supported by a thin dielectric (silicon dioxide) film and a gold underlay forms an efficient (Fabry-Perot) resonator for gap surface plasmons. Periodic nanostrip arrays are shown to exhibit strong and narrow resonances with nearly complete absorption and quality factors of ~15-20 in the near-infrared. Two-photon luminescence microscopy measurements reveal intensity enhancement factors of ~120 in the 400-nm-period array of 85-nm-wide gold strips atop a 23-nm-thick silica film at the resonance wavelength of ~770 nm. Excellent resonant characteristics, the simplicity of tuning the resonance wavelength by adjusting the nanostrip width and/or the dielectric film thickness and the ease of fabrication with (only) one lithography step required make the considered plasmonic configuration very attractive for a wide variety of applications, ranging from surface sensing to photovoltaics.

Ole Albrektsen

Papers

Gap plasmon-based metasurfaces for total control of reflected light

Subwavelength plasmonic color printing protected for ambient use.

Efficient absorption of visible radiation by gap plasmon resonators

Plasmonic metamaterial wave retarders in reflection by orthogonally oriented detuned electrical dipoles

Continuous layer gap plasmon resonators.