Full conversion of unpolarized to fixed-polarization light with topology optimized metasurfaces

Fuente: arXiv
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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Li, Neuton, Lung, Shaun, Zhang, Jihua, Neshev, Dragomir N., Sukhorukov, Andrey A.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
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author Li, Neuton
Lung, Shaun
Zhang, Jihua
Neshev, Dragomir N.
Sukhorukov, Andrey A.
author_facet Li, Neuton
Lung, Shaun
Zhang, Jihua
Neshev, Dragomir N.
Sukhorukov, Andrey A.
contents Conventional polarizers and polarization beam splitters have a fundamental limit of 50\% efficiency when converting unpolarized light into one specific polarization. Here, we overcome this restriction and achieve near-complete conversion of unpolarized light to a single pure polarization state at several outputs of topology-optimized metasurfaces. Our fabricated metasurface achieves an extinction ratio approaching 100, when characterized with laboratory measurements. We further demonstrate that arbitrary power splitting can be achieved between three or more polarized outputs, offering flexibility in target illumination. Our results provide a path toward greatly improving the efficiency of common unpolarized light sources in a variety of applications requiring pure polarizations.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2308_14341
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Full conversion of unpolarized to fixed-polarization light with topology optimized metasurfaces
Li, Neuton
Lung, Shaun
Zhang, Jihua
Neshev, Dragomir N.
Sukhorukov, Andrey A.
Optics
Conventional polarizers and polarization beam splitters have a fundamental limit of 50\% efficiency when converting unpolarized light into one specific polarization. Here, we overcome this restriction and achieve near-complete conversion of unpolarized light to a single pure polarization state at several outputs of topology-optimized metasurfaces. Our fabricated metasurface achieves an extinction ratio approaching 100, when characterized with laboratory measurements. We further demonstrate that arbitrary power splitting can be achieved between three or more polarized outputs, offering flexibility in target illumination. Our results provide a path toward greatly improving the efficiency of common unpolarized light sources in a variety of applications requiring pure polarizations.
title Full conversion of unpolarized to fixed-polarization light with topology optimized metasurfaces
topic Optics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2308.14341