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- Title
Arbitrary engineering of spatial caustics with 3D-printed metasurfaces.
- Authors
Zhou, Xiaoyan; Wang, Hongtao; Liu, Shuxi; Wang, Hao; Chan, John You En; Pan, Cheng-Feng; Zhao, Daomu; Yang, Joel K. W.; Qiu, Cheng-Wei
- Abstract
Caustics occur in diverse physical systems, spanning the nano-scale in electron microscopy to astronomical-scale in gravitational lensing. As envelopes of rays, optical caustics result in sharp edges or extended networks. Caustics in structured light, characterized by complex-amplitude distributions, have innovated numerous applications including particle manipulation, high-resolution imaging techniques, and optical communication. However, these applications have encountered limitations due to a major challenge in engineering caustic fields with customizable propagation trajectories and in-plane intensity profiles. Here, we introduce the "compensation phase" via 3D-printed metasurfaces to shape caustic fields with curved trajectories in free space. The in-plane caustic patterns can be preserved or morphed from one structure to another during propagation. Large-scale fabrication of these metasurfaces is enabled by the fast-prototyping and cost-effective two-photon polymerization lithography. Our optical elements with the ultra-thin profile and sub-millimeter extension offer a compact solution to generating caustic structured light for beam shaping, high-resolution microscopy, and light-matter-interaction studies. Caustics, as a unique type of singularity in wave phenomena, occur in diverse physical systems. Here, the authors realize multi-dimensional customization of caustics with 3D-printed metasurfaces. This arbitrary caustic engineering is poised to bring new revolutions to many domains.
- Subjects
OPTICAL elements; SPACE trajectories; ENGINEERING; OPTICAL communications; GRAVITATIONAL lenses; ELECTRON microscopy; THREE-dimensional printing
- Publication
Nature Communications, 2024, Vol 15, Issue 1, p1
- ISSN
2041-1723
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1038/s41467-024-48026-5