Mid-Infrared Dynamic Wavefront Transformer Based on a Two-Degrees-of-Freedom Control System

Vast tunable optical components are realized based on dynamic reconfigurations of the incident wavefronts, such as beam steering and tunable lens. However, the dominant paradigm of current wavefront reconfiguration technologies relies on complex control systems with degrees of freedom much larger than output wavefronts, e.g., beam steering based on spatial light modulator or phased array antennas. Here, a new paradigm for dynamic reconfiguration of arbitrary output wavefronts using control systems with the same degrees of freedom is proposed. As an example, a wavefront transformer is demonstrated using an in-plane two-degree-of-freedom (2DOF) mechanical actuation system of metasurface doublet for semi-omnidirectional beam steering, which measures a 6-kHz modulation speed and a 131.2 degrees x 131.2 degrees field of view. This paradigm can be applied to metasurface transformers for dynamic wavefront reconfiguration with any control system for vast applications, such as tunable lens, beam steering, and dynamic beam profiler, just to name a few.

Automated summary

The current paradigm of wavefront reconfiguration relies on complex control systems, but this article proposes a new method that uses control systems with the same degrees of freedom to dynamically reconfigure any output wavefront. The demonstrated wavefront transformer allows for semi-omnidirectional beam steering.