Metasurfaces and Their Applications in Photonic Devices

Author

Shuwei Guo, CUNY City CollegeFollow

Date of Award

2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Department

Engineering

First Advisor

Andrea Alu

Keywords

Metasurfaces, metalens, spectrometer, polarimeter, metagrating, narrow-band

Abstract

Metasurfaces are flat artificial optical elements composed of dielectric and/or metallic nanostructures. They can manipulate light in unprecedented ways by altering amplitude, phase, and polarization at subwavelength scales. The ability of these two-dimensional elements to perform multiple optical functions within compact optical systems—while offering high functionality, small form factors, and easy integration into optoelectronic devices—has sparked significant interest across various fields and industries. These applications span imaging, sensing, nonlinear and quantum optics, optical computing, automotive technology, augmented and virtual reality, and more.

In this dissertation, we explore and design new multifunctional metasurfaces with a focus on manipulating spectral responses. First, we investigate a metasurface-based compact imaging spectropolarimeter that can acquire two-dimensional imaging with complete spectral and polarimetric information, representing the four-dimensional spectropolarimetric space of light field. Second, we introduce the meta-Fizeau spectrometer, suitable for wide angle of incidence, and show its enhanced performance when cascaded with metalens and meta-prism. Additionally, we design nonlocal metasurfaces capable of shaping spatial properties of light within a narrow spectral range, and demonstrate their applications in beam steering, focusing, and chiral dichroism. We anticipate that the findings of this dissertation can advance the application of metasurfaces in compact optical devices and systems.

Recommended Citation

Guo, Shuwei, "Metasurfaces and Their Applications in Photonic Devices" (2025). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cc_etds_theses/1269