Ultrasensitive and long-range transverse displacement metrology with polarization-encoded metasurface

Abstract

A long-range, high-precision, and compact transverse displacement metrology method is of crucial importance in many research areas. Recent schemes using optical antennas are limited in efficiency and the range of measurement due to the small size of the antenna. Here, we demonstrated the first prototype polarization-encoded metasurface for ultrasensitive long-range transverse displacement metrology. The transverse displacement of the metasurface is encoded into the polarization direction of the outgoing light via the Pancharatnam-Berry phase, which can be read out directly according to the Malus law. We experimentally demonstrate nanometer displacement resolution with the uncertainty on the order of 100 picometers for a large measurement range of 200 micrometers with the total area of the metasurface being within 900 micrometers by 900 micrometers. The measurement range can be extended further using a larger metasurface. Our work opens new avenues of applying metasurfaces in the field of ultrasensitive optical transverse displacement metrology.

Polarization Detection of Terahertz Waves using All‐Silicon Metasurfaces with Tightly Focusing Behavior

“…Considering that the transmitted electric field distribution originates from the coherent superposition of the LCP and RCP components, i.e., $$\tilde{\mathrm{E}} = {{[ {1 + {{\cos }^2}( {l\psi + \gamma + \chi } )} ]} \mathord{/ {\vphantom {{[ {1 + {{\cos }^2}( {l\psi + \gamma + \chi } )} ]} 2}} \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} 2}$$. [ 49,50 ] Here, ψ represents the major angle of the petals contained in the E z ‐component under linearly polarized illumination,χ corresponds to transmitted polarization direction, and $$l = \pm 1$$ denotes the topological charges carried in the LCP and RCP channels. When $$\tilde{\mathrm{E}}$$ takes the maximum value, then the parameter $${\psi _{\max }} = {{( {n\pi - \gamma - \chi } )} \mathord{/ {\vphantom {{( {n\pi - \gamma - \chi } )} {| l |}}} \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} {| l |}}$$, ( n = 0, 1, …, |2 l ‐1|).…”

“…Considering that the transmitted electric field distribution originates from the coherent superposition of the LCP and RCP components, i.e., Ẽ = [1 + cos 2 (l𝜓 + 𝛾 + 𝜒)]∕2. [49,50] Here, 𝜓 represents the major angle of the petals contained in the E z -component under linearly polarized illumination,𝜒 corresponds to transmitted polarization direction, and l = ±1 denotes the topological charges carried in the LCP and RCP channels. When Ẽ takes the maximum value, then the parameter 𝜓 max = (n𝜋 − 𝛾 − 𝜒)∕|l|, (n = 0, 1, …, |2l-1|).…”

High-precision two-dimensional displacement metrology based on matrix metasurface

“…Metasurfaces have been widely applied into imaging (14)(15)(16), holography (17)(18)(19), thanks to its monolithic integration, compact design, and powerful capability of light manipulation. In previous works, ultrasensitive, long-range, and easyreadout schemes for 1D transverse displacement metrology technology was developed based on g-plate (20) or polarization-encoded metasurface (21). Here, we propose a 2D displacement metrology with a matrix metasurface to track nanoscopic motion with nanometric spatial precision.…”

Optical Angle Barcodes Enabled by a Pixelated Metasurface for Absolute Micro‐Angle Measurement

“…This technology has been widely used in geometric measurements, and several related nanoscale components have been reported, including optical integrating spheres, multimode fibers, and metasurfaces. [16][17][18][19][20][21] Among the mentioned components, metasurfaces, as optical 2D arrays with subwavelength structures, offer the capability to manipulate electromagnetic wave beams by controlling the wavefront phase, amplitude, and polarization, thereby effectively controlling the reflection, refraction, and polarization of the light beam. Due to the independence and controllability of meta-atoms, metasurfaces are widely used in the interaction and control of waves-information-matter, and based on this, they have been developed into various intelligent sensor platforms.…”