Dielectric metasurface zone plate for the generation of focusing vortex beams

Vortex beams carrying orbital angular momentum have important applications in high dimensional optical information processing, manipulations of tiny particles, super-resolution imaging and so on. Among various optical components, metasurface represents an ideal platform for realizing vortex beams with multiple optical functionalities due to its strong ability in manipulating the phase, polarization and amplitude of light. A metasurface combing the functions of a lens and a vortex beam generator can greatly shrink the size of many optical systems. Here, we alternatively propose a new metasurface design based on the concept of a Fresnel zone plate to generate, focus the vortex beams, and perform on-axis interference between different vortex beams. These functions are experimentally demonstrated through encoding the spiral phase profiles into the odd and even zones of a dielectric metasurface. The proposed vortex beam generation strategy employs the advantages of both the Fresnel zone plate and the metasurface, and may open new routes for high-dimensional optical information processing.

Automated summary

Vortex beams carrying orbital angular momentum have various applications in optical information processing, particle manipulation, and super-resolution imaging. Metasurfaces, with their strong ability in manipulating light phase, polarization, and amplitude, offer an ideal platform for realizing vortex beams with multiple optical functionalities. A new metasurface design based on the concept of a Fresnel zone plate is proposed to generate, focus, and perform interference between vortex beams, potentially opening new routes for high-dimensional optical information processing.