In this study, the phase modulation ability of a dielectric Pancharatnam–Berry (PB) phase metasurface, consisting of nanofins, is theoretically analyzed. It is generally considered that the optical thickness of the unit cell of a PB-phase metasurface is λ/2, i.e., a half-waveplate for polarization conversion. It is found that the λ/2 is not essential for achieving a full 2π modulation. Nevertheless, a λ/2 thickness is still needed for a high polarization conversion efficiency. Moreover, a gradient phase metasurface is designed. With the help of the particle swarm optimization (PSO) method, the wavefront errors of the gradient phase metasurface are reduced by fine-tuning the rotation angle of the nanofins. The diffraction efficiency of the gradient phase metasurface is thus improved from 73.4% to 87.3%. This design rule can be utilized to optimize the efficiency of phase-type meta-devices, such as meta-deflectors and metalenses.

In this paper, a miniaturized concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) system is experimentally demonstrated based on a hot embossing silicone lens array with a size of 2 cm × 2 cm. Owing to the small size of the lens array, the total track of the CPV system can be as small as 4 cm. Consequently, the weight of the CPV system can be much lower than conventional bulky CPV system. For harvesting the diffuse solar radiation, perovskite solar cells are mounted adjacent to a multi-junction solar cell. Theoretically, the short-circuit current of the CPV system can be enhanced from 48.1 to 85.5 mA for γ = 0.7. The enhancement can be much higher for off-normal incident light. This kind of hybrid CPV system will be useful for cloudy weather and also useful for compensating the loss caused by the miss-alignment of the tracking module.