Nonlocal Metasurface Lens for Long-Wavelength Infrared Radiation

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel nonlocal metasurface lens for long-wavelength infrared radiation, leveraging lattice resonances in germanium films to achieve ultrathin, multi-functional optical components suitable for thermal imaging and sensing.

Contribution

The work presents a new design of nonlocal metalenses based on germanium thin films with a square lattice geometry, enabling stable, frequency-selective geometric phase control at 10.3 μm wavelength.

Findings

Operates at 10.3 μm wavelength in a 1.45 μm thick device

Supports highly isotropic dispersion with stable geometric phase

Demonstrates potential for multi-functional, low-profile meta-optics

Abstract

Dielectric metasurfaces are structured thin films with thickness smaller than the wavelength that aim at replacing and enhancing conventional bulk optical components by structuring local resonances across an aperture. At visible and near-infrared frequencies, titania or silicon are routinely used as substrates to realize these ultrathin devices, ideally suited for conventional nanofabrication techniques. Unfortunately, directly scaling these design and material approaches to long-wave infrared frequencies is not practical, due to challenges in the required thicknesses and the presence of phonon absorption lines. Nonlocal metasurfaces based on extended resonances with a local geometric phase offer a compelling design platform that can address these challenges. They enable ultrathin metasurfaces, as they leverage lattice resonances, while they also offer multi-functionalities and frequency-selectivity, and they can be implemented in a range of low-loss material platforms. Here, we demonstrate nonlocal metalenses based on germanium thin films on a zinc-selenide substrate, operating around 10.3{\mu}m within a deeply subwavelength device thickness of 1.45{\mu}m (14% the free-space wavelength). We showcase a novel meta-unit geometry based on a square lattice with highly isotropic dispersion features, supporting a resonant geometric phase that is highly stable in frequency, simplifying the rational design of complex metasurface operations. The introduced platform promises highly multi-functional, low-profile meta-optics with enhanced meta-unit designs, compatible with the challenging thermal spectral region for imaging and sensing applications.