Excitation of Surface Waves with On-Demand Polarization at Self-Complementary Metasurface

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel method to excite surface electromagnetic waves with arbitrary polarization states using self-complementary metasurfaces, enabling advanced control in photonic and optical devices.

Contribution

It demonstrates for the first time the excitation of surface waves with any polarization using self-complementary metasurfaces based on Babinet's duality.

Findings

Successful excitation of surface waves with various polarization states

Analysis of substrate effects on excitation efficiency

Potential applications in planar photonic devices

Abstract

Surface electromagnetic waves are the main carriers of the highly localized in-plane signal in planar antennas and photonic devices. However, the polarization degree of freedom is generally absent for surface waves as far as it is still a challenge to excite the surface waves with a necessary polarization state. In this letter, for the first time, we propose a method to excite the surface waves of arbitrary polarization using the self-complementary metasurfaces obeying Babinet's duality principle. Namely, we demonstrate the excitation of surface waves with (i) linear horizontal and vertical, (ii) linear diagonal, (iii) right- and left-handed circular, and (iv) elliptical polarizations covering, in principle, a whole Poincare sphere of polarization states. Finally, we analyze the impact of substrate on the efficiency of polarization-demanded surface waves excitation. The results obtained may find the numerous applications in planar photonic and flat optical polarization devices.