Transparent Dielectric Metasurfaces for Spatial Mode Multiplexing

Abstract

Expanding the use of physical degrees of freedom to employ spatial multiplexing of data in optical communication is considered to be the most disruptive and effective solution for meeting the capacity demand of the growing information traffic. Development of space division–multiplexing methods stimulated research on spatial encoding, detection, and processing of data, attracting interest from various fields of science. Here a passive all-dielectric metasurface with near-unity transmission is demonstrated that engineers spatial mode profiles, potentially of an arbitrary complexity. The broadband response of the metasurface covers all S, C, and L bands of fiber communications. Unlike conventional phase plates, the metasurface allows for both phase and polarization conversion, providing full flexibility for the mode engineering. The dielectric metasurface is employed for mode multiplexing in a free-space optical communication system with an extinction ratio in excess of 20 dB over the whole C-band with negligible penalty even for 100 Gb s−1 data transmission. These results merge two seemingly different fields, optical communication and metamaterials, and they suggest a novel approach for an ultimate miniaturization of mode multiplexers and advanced LiFi technologies.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/lpor.201800031
Divisions: College of Engineering & Physical Sciences
College of Engineering & Physical Sciences > Aston Institute of Photonics Technology (AIPT)
College of Engineering & Physical Sciences > Systems analytics research institute (SARI)
Funding Information: The authors acknowledge Katie Chong for an initial work on the metasur-face masks and Richard Winfield (Tyndall National Institute) for providing the reference phase plates. Fabrication was conducted at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, which i
Additional Information: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: S. Kruk, F. Ferreira, N. Mac Suibhne, C. Tsekrekos, I. Kravchenko, A. Ellis, D. Neshev, S. Turitsyn, Y. Kivshar, Laser & Photonics Reviews 2018, 12, 1800031, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/lpor.201800031.  This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving. Funding: EC 7th Framework Program. Grant Numbers: 627545, 659950, 654809; Australian Research Council; U.S. Department of Energy; Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. Grant Number: EP/L000091/1
Uncontrolled Keywords: metasurfaces,nanophotonics,optical communications,space division multiplexing,Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials,Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics,Condensed Matter Physics
Publication ISSN: 1863-8899
Last Modified: 08 Jan 2024 08:49
Date Deposited: 03 Sep 2018 09:47
Full Text Link: https://arxiv.o ... /abs/1711.07160
Related URLs: http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK (Scopus URL)
https://onlinel ... /lpor.201800031 (Publisher URL)
PURE Output Type: Letter
Published Date: 2018-08-16
Published Online Date: 2018-06-21
Accepted Date: 2018-05-30
Authors: Kruk, Sergey
Ferreira, Filipe (ORCID Profile 0000-0002-1533-843X)
Mac Suibhne, Naoise
Tsekrekos, Christos
Kravchenko, Ivan
Ellis, Andrew (ORCID Profile 0000-0002-0417-0547)
Neshev, Dragomir
Turitsyn, Sergey (ORCID Profile 0000-0003-0101-3834)
Kivshar, Yuri

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