An all-dielectric metasurface polarimeter

TL;DR

This paper introduces an all-dielectric metasurface polarimeter capable of directly measuring any polarization state of light from a single, asymmetric nanoresonator design, enabling rapid and high-fidelity polarization imaging.

Contribution

The authors develop a novel all-dielectric metasurface that can determine arbitrary polarization states in a single measurement without moving parts.

Findings

Achieved polarization state fidelity of up to 99%

Resolved polarization states with 5° angular resolution

Demonstrated capability for quantum state tomography

Abstract

The polarization state of light is a key parameter in many imaging systems. For example, it can image mechanical stress and other physical properties that are not seen with conventional imaging, and can also play a central role in quantum sensing. However, polarization is more difficult to image and polarimetry typically involves several independent measurements with moving parts in the measurement device. Metasurfaces with interleaved designs have demonstrated sensitivity to either linear or circular/elliptical polarization states. Here we present an all-dielectric meta-polarimeter for direct measurement of any arbitrary polarization states from a single unit-cell design. By engineering a completely asymmetric design, we obtained a metasurface that can excite eigenmodes of the nanoresonators, thus displaying a unique diffraction pattern for not only any linear polarization state but all elliptical polarization states (and handedness) as well. The unique diffraction patterns are quantified into Stokes parameters with a resolution of 5$^{\circ}$ and with a polarization state fidelity of up to $99\pm1$%. This holds promise for applications in polarization imaging and quantum state tomography.