Metasurface-dressed two-dimensional on-chip waveguide for free-space light field manipulation

TL;DR

This paper introduces a metasurface-coated 2D waveguide that enables on-chip generation of complex light fields, combining metasurface versatility with integrated photonics for advanced optical applications.

Contribution

It presents a novel metasurface-dressed waveguide platform that allows arbitrary 2D light field manipulation on-chip, demonstrated through focusing and holography.

Findings

Successful off-chip 2D focusing demonstrated

Holographic projection achieved with integrated device

Potential applications in LiDAR and AR/VR

Abstract

We show that a metasurface-coated two-dimensional (2D) slab waveguide enables the generation of arbitrary complex light fields by combining the extreme versatility and freedom on wavefront control of optical metasurfaces with the compactness of photonic integrated circuits. We demonstrated off-chip 2D focusing and holographic projection with our metasurface-dressed photonic integrated devices. This technology holds the potential for many other optical applications requiring 2D light field manipulation with full on-chip integration, such as solid-state LiDAR and near-eye AR/VR displays.