Arbitrary active control of the Pancharatnam-Berry phase in a terahertz metasurface

Active phase-control metasurfaces show outstanding capability in the active manipulation of light propagation, while the previous active phase control methods have many constraints in the cost of simulation or the phase modulation range. In this paper, we design and demonstrate a phase controlled metastructure based on two circular split ring resonators (CSRRs) composed of silicon and Au with different widths, which can continuously achieve an arbitrary Pancharatnam-Berry (PB) phase between -pi and pi before or after active control. The PB phase of such a metasurface before active control is determined by the rotation angle of the Au-composed CSRR, while the PB phase after active control is determined by the rotation angle of the silicon-composed CSRR. And active control of the PB phase is realized by varying conductivity of silicon under an external optical pump. Based on this metastructure, active control of light deflection, metalens with arbitrary reconfigurable focal points and achromatic metalens under selective frequencies are designed and simulated. Moreover, the experimental results demonstrate that focal spots of metalens can be actively controlled by the optical pump, in accord with the simulated ones. Our metastructure implements a plethora of metasurfaces' active phase modulation and provides applications in active light manipulation. (C) 2022 Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Optica Open Access Publishing Agreement

Automated summary

Active phase-control metasurfaces have been developed for manipulating light propagation. This paper presents a phase controlled metastructure based on circular split ring resonators made of silicon and gold. The metastructure allows continuous and active control of the Pancharatnam-Berry phase, enabling various applications such as light deflection, reconfigurable metalens, and achromatic metalens. Experimental results demonstrate successful active control of the metalens focal spots. This metastructure offers a promising approach for active light manipulation.