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All-dielectric metasurface for wavefront control at terahertz frequencies
Raghu Dharmavarapu,
Published in SPIE
2017
Volume: 10456
   
Abstract
Recently, metasurfaces have gained popularity due to their ability to offer a spatially varying phase response, low intrinsic losses and high transmittance. Here, we demonstrate numerically and experimentally a silicon meta-surface at THz frequencies that converts a Gaussian beam into a Vortex beam independent of the polarization of the incident beam. The metasurface consists of an array of sub-wavelength silicon cross resonators made of a high refractive index material on substrates such as sapphire and CaF2 that are transparent at IR-THz spectral range. With these substrates, it is possible to create phase elements for a specific spectral range including at the molecular finger printing around 10 μm as well as at longer THz wavelengths where secondary molecular structures can be revealed. This device offers high transmittance and a phase coverage of 0 to 2π. The transmittance phase is tuned by varying the dimensions of the meta-atoms. To demonstrate wavefront engineering, we used a discretized spiraling phase profile to convert the incident Gaussian beam to vortex beam. To realize this, we divided the metasurface surface into eight angular sectors and chose eight different dimensions for the crosses providing successive phase shifts spaced by π/4 radians for each of these sectors. Photolithography and reactive ion etching (RIE) were used to fabricate these silicon crosses as the dimensions of these cylinders range up to few hundreds of micrometers. Large 1-cm-diameter optical elements were successfully fabricated and characterised by optical profilometry. © COPYRIGHT SPIE. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.
About the journal
JournalData powered by TypesetProceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
PublisherData powered by TypesetSPIE
ISSN0277786X
Open AccessYes
Concepts (19)
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    Adaptive optics
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    Calcium compounds
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    NANOPHOTONICS
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    Reactive ion etching
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    Refractive index
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    Sapphire
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    Silicon
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    Substrates
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    Vortex flow
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    Wavefronts
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    BEAM-SHAPING
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    HIGH-REFRACTIVE-INDEX MATERIALS
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    METASURFACES
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    OPTICAL PROFILOMETRY
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    Tera hertz
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    Terahertz frequencies
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    TRANSMITTANCE PHASE
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    VORTEX BEAMS
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    Gaussian beams