Reversible lateral optical force on phase-gradient metasurfaces for full control of metavehicles

TY - JOUR

T1 - Reversible lateral optical force on phase-gradient metasurfaces for full control of metavehicles

AU - Li, Tianyue

AU - Kingsley-Smith, Jack

AU - Hu, Yanhui

AU - Xu, Xiaohao

AU - Yan, Shaohui

AU - Wang, Shuming

AU - Yao, Baoli

AU - Wang, Zhenlin

AU - Zhu, Shining

N1 - Funding Information: Funding. National Natural Science Foundation of China (12274181, 11621091, 11774162, 11774164, 11804119, 11822406). Publisher Copyright: © 2023 Optica Publishing Group.

PY - 2023/1/15

Y1 - 2023/1/15

N2 - Photonics is currently undergoing an era of miniaturization thanks in part to two-dimensional (2D) optical metasurfaces. Their ability to sculpt and redirect optical momentum can give rise to an optical force, which acts orthogonally to the direction of light propagation. Powered by a single unfocused light beam, these lateral optical forces (LOFs) can be used to drive advanced metavehicles and are controlled via the incident beam’s polarization. However, the full control of a metavehicle on a 2D plane (i.e. forward, backward, left, and right) with a sign-switchable LOF remains a challenge. Here we present a phase-gradient metasurface route for achieving such full control while also increasing efficiency. The proposed metasurface is able to deflect a normally incident plane wave in a traverse direction by modulating the plane wave’s polarization, and results in a sign-switchable recoil LOF. When applied to a metavehicle, this LOF enables a level of motion control that was previously unobtainable.

AB - Photonics is currently undergoing an era of miniaturization thanks in part to two-dimensional (2D) optical metasurfaces. Their ability to sculpt and redirect optical momentum can give rise to an optical force, which acts orthogonally to the direction of light propagation. Powered by a single unfocused light beam, these lateral optical forces (LOFs) can be used to drive advanced metavehicles and are controlled via the incident beam’s polarization. However, the full control of a metavehicle on a 2D plane (i.e. forward, backward, left, and right) with a sign-switchable LOF remains a challenge. Here we present a phase-gradient metasurface route for achieving such full control while also increasing efficiency. The proposed metasurface is able to deflect a normally incident plane wave in a traverse direction by modulating the plane wave’s polarization, and results in a sign-switchable recoil LOF. When applied to a metavehicle, this LOF enables a level of motion control that was previously unobtainable.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85146363680&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1364/OL.478979

DO - 10.1364/OL.478979

M3 - Article

SN - 0146-9592

VL - 48

SP - 255

EP - 258

JO - Optics Letters

JF - Optics Letters

IS - 2

ER -