α spiral nanoslit and the higher order plasmonic vortex generation.

In view of the conciseness of a spiral nanoslit and the limited order of the generated vortex, a kind of nanometer spiral, named α spirals, is proposed to generate a higher order plasmonic vortex. Theoretical analysis provides the basis for the advancement of an α spiral. The proposed spiral can generate the plasmonic vortex and the extreme order of the generated vortex depends on parameter α. The numerical simulations express the valid region of the plasmonic vortex generated by the α spiral. Discussions about the validity range of the α spiral nanoslit and the influence of the film material are beneficial to generate a high order vortex. This work builds a platform for the generation of the higher order plasmonic vortex using the simple spiral nanostructure and it can extend the potential applications of higher order plasmonic vortices.

Polarization controllable plasmonic focusing based on nanometer holes.

Two kinds of plasmonic lenses are proposed based on phase compensation. Each kind of plasmonic lens is comprised of four sets of nanohole arrays, and two sets of face-to-face nanohole arrays are planar symmetric. The adjustment of separation and the rotation angle of holes compensates, respectively, for the phase difference of the surface plasmon polaritons reaching to the focal spot. The different design principles make the proposed plasmonic lenses show the different polarization dependence focusing. Two or four foci of the first kind of plasmonic lens and two controllable foci focusing of the second kind of plasmonic lens can be utilized as optical switch and logic judgment. Theoretic analysis, numerical calculations and experiment measurement verify the focusing performance of our proposed plasmonic lenses. The focusing functionality and versatility of our proposed structures are helpful for extending the applications of plasmonic lenses in integrated optics.

Multifocal metalens with a controllable intensity ratio.

A multifocal metalens is proposed based on the optical metasurface consisting of subwavelength gratings etched on silver film. The larger transmission of grating makes the proposed metalens have high focusing efficiency, and the exquisite design of the metasurface enables the metalens to focus the light at multiple spots with the controllable intensity ratio. The intensity ratio of focal spots is controlled by adjusting grating structures. The numerical simulations give the good presentation, and the experiment measurement provides the favorable verification for the performance of the proposed multifocal metalens in light focusing and beam splitting. The advantages of the multifocal metalens, including simple design, compact structure, high efficiency, and the controllable focusing, are a benefit to its applications in optical integration and micromanipulation.

Metalens based on constructive interference.

A metalens consisting of nanometer rectangular holes etched on silver film is proposed, and the focusing effect is actualized in the visible region. The rectangular holes are arranged on concentric circles, and the fields excited by these holes constructively interfere due to having the same propagation phase. The propagation phase is obtained by optimizing the sizes of the rectangular holes and the radii of the circles. This metalens can focus linearly or circularly polarized light, and numerical simulations and experimental measurement confirm its focusing performance. The proposed metalens has the advantages of flexible design, loose constraint to incident polarization, low-cost equipment, and simpler experimental operation, and we believe it will be useful to applications in optical integration and visible light imaging.