Li Yan, Ansari Muhammad Afnan, Ahmed Hammad, Wang Ruoxing, Wang Guanchao, Chen Xianzhong
Institute of Photonics and Quantum Sciences, School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, UK.
School of Materials, Zhengzhou University of Aeronautics, Zhengzhou 450015, China.
Sci Adv. 2023 Nov 24;9(47):eadj6675. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adj6675. Epub 2023 Nov 22.
Generation and manipulation of three-dimensional (3D) optical polarization structures have received considerable interest because of their distinctive optical features and potential applications. However, the realization of multiple 3D polarization structures in a queue along the light propagation direction has not yet been reported. We propose and experimentally demonstrate a metalens to create longitudinally variable 3D polarization knots. A single metalens can simultaneously generate three distinct 3D polarization knots, which are indirectly validated with a rotating polarizer. The 3D polarization profiles are dynamically modulated by manipulating the linear polarization direction of the incident light. We further showcase the 3D image steganography with the generated 3D polarization structures. The ultrathin nature of metasurfaces and unique properties of the developed metalenses hold promise for lightweight polarization systems applicable to areas such as 3D image steganography and virtual reality.
由于其独特的光学特性和潜在应用，三维（3D）光学偏振结构的产生和操控已引起了广泛关注。然而，沿光传播方向依次排列的多个3D偏振结构尚未见报道。我们提出并通过实验证明了一种超构透镜可用于创建纵向可变的3D偏振结。单个超构透镜能够同时产生三个不同的3D偏振结，并通过旋转偏振器进行间接验证。通过操控入射光的线性偏振方向可动态调制3D偏振分布。我们进一步展示了利用所产生的3D偏振结构进行的3D图像隐写术。超表面的超薄特性以及所开发超构透镜的独特性能为适用于3D图像隐写术和虚拟现实等领域的轻量化偏振系统带来了希望。
