Analysis of material selection on dielectric metasurface performance
Open accessAbstract
Dielectric metasurfaces are ultra-thin devices that can shape optical wavefronts with extreme control. While an assortment of materials possessing a wide range of dielectric constants have been proposed and implemented, the minimum dielectric contrast required for metasurfaces to achieve high-efficiency performance, for a given device function and feature size constraint, is unclear. In this Article, we examine the impact of dielectric material selection on metasurface efficiency at optical frequencies. As a model system, we design transmissive, single-layer periodic metasurfaces (i.e., metagratings) using topology optimization, and we sweep device thickness and light deflection angle for differing material types. We find that for modest deflection angles below 40 degrees, materials with relatively low dielectric constants near 4 can be used to produce metagratings with efficiencies over 80%. However, ultra-high-efficiency devices designed for large deflection angles and multiple functions require materials with high dielectric constants comparable to silicon. We also identify, for all materials, a minimum device thickness required for optimal metagrating performance that scales inversely with dielectric constant. Our work presents materials selection guidelines for high-performance metasurfaces operating at visible and infrared wavelengths.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Topology optimization has been used to design photonic crystals, integrated photonics devices, and metamaterials with superior performance metrics than those based on conventional designs.
“This technique has been used to design photonic crystals [15], integrated photonics devices [16,17], and metamaterials [18–24] with superior performance metrics than those based on conventional designs.”
From Robust design of topology-optimized metasurfaces (2019) · cites this paper as [21]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet
References 26 · Cited by 91
Research works printed but not linked: 21
- [2]M. Khorasaninejad, W. T. Chen, R. C. Devlin, J. Oh, A. Y. Zhu, and F. Capasso, “Metalenses at visible wavelengths: diffraction-limited focusing and subwavelength resolution imaging,” Science 352(6290), 1190–1194 (2016). Crossref
- [3]D. Lin, P. Fan, E. Hasman, and M. L. Brongersma, “Dielectric gradient metasurface optical elements,” Science 345(6194), 298–302 (2014). Crossref
- [4]F. Aieta, M. A. Kats, P. Genevet, and F. Capasso, “Multiwavelength achromatic metasurfaces by dispersive phase compensation,” Science 347(6228), 1342–1345 (2015). Crossref
- [5]P. Lalanne, S. Astilean, P. Chavel, E. Cambril, and H. Launois, “Design and fabrication of blazed binary diffractive elements with sampling periods smaller than the structural cutoff,” J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 16(5), 1143 (1999). Crossref
- [6]P. Genevet and F. Capasso, “Holographic optical metasurfaces: a review of current progress,” Rep. Prog. Phys. 78(2), 024401 (2015). Crossref
- [7]M. Khorasaninejad, A. Ambrosio, P. Kanhaiya, and F. Capasso, “Broadband and chiral binary dielectric meta-holograms,” Sci. Adv. 2(5), e1501258 (2016). Crossref
- [8]L. Wang, S. Kruk, H. Tang, T. Li, I. Kravchenko, D. N. Neshev, and Y. S. Kivshar, “Grayscale transparent metasurface holograms,” Optica 3(12), 1504–1505 (2016). Crossref
- [9]P. Lalanne, S. Astilean, P. Chavel, E. Cambril, and H. Launois, “Blazed binary subwavelength gratings with efficiencies larger than those of conventional échelette gratings,” Opt. Lett. 23(14), 1081–1083 (1998). Crossref
- [10]D. Sell, J. Yang, S. Doshay, K. Zhang, and J. A. Fan, “Visible light metasurfaces based on single-crystal silicon,” ACS Photonics 3(10), 1919–1925 (2016). Crossref
- [11]D. Sell, J. Yang, S. Doshay, R. Yang, and J. A. Fan, “Large angle, multi-functional metagratings based on freeform multimode geometries,” Nano Lett. 17(6), 3752–3757 (2017). Crossref
- [12]M. Khorasaninejad, W. Zhu, and K. B. Crozier, “Efficient polarization beam splitter pixels based on a dielectric metasurface,” Optica 2(4), 376–382 (2015). Crossref
- [14]Z. Zhou, J. Li, R. Su, B. Yao, H. Fang, K. Li, L. Zhou, J. Liu, D. Stellinga, C. P. Reardon, T. F. Krauss, and X. Wang, “Efficient silicon metasurfaces for visible light,” ACS Photonics 4(3), 544–551 (2017). Crossref
- [15]S. Liu, G. A. Keeler, J. L. Reno, M. B. Sinclair, and I. Brener, “III–V semiconductor nanoresonators—a new strategy for passive, active, and nonlinear all-dielectric metamaterials,” Adv. Opt. Mater. 4(10), 1457–1462 (2016). Crossref
- [16]P. P. Iyer, M. Pendharkar, and J. A. Schuller, “Electrically reconfigurable metasurfaces using heterojunction resonators,” Adv. Opt. Mater. 4(10), 1582–1588 (2016). Crossref
- [17]D. G. Baranov, D. A. Zuev, S. I. Lepeshov, O. V. Kotov, A. E. Krasnok, A. B. Evlyukhin, and B. N. Chichkov, “All-dielectric nanophotonics: the quest for better materials and fabrication techniques,” Optica 4(7), 814–825 (2017). Crossref
- [19]A. Zhan, S. Colburn, R. Trivedi, T. K. Fryett, C. M. Dodson, and A. Majumdar, “Low-contrast dielectric metasurface optics,” ACS Photonics 3(2), 209–214 (2016). Crossref
- [20]M. S. Seghilani, M. Sellahi, M. Devautour, P. Lalanne, I. Sagnes, G. Beaudoin, M. Myara, X. Lafosse, L. Legratiet, J. Yang, and A. Garnache, “Photonic crystal-based flat lens integrated on a Bragg mirror for High-Q external cavity low noise laser,” Opt. Express 22(5), 5962–5976 (2014). Crossref
- [21]M. P. Bendsoe and O. Sigmund, Topology Optimization: Theory, Methods, and Applications (Springer: Berlin Heidelberg, 2003).
- [22]J. Lu and J. Vučković, “Nanophotonic computational design,” Opt. Express 21(11), 13351–13367 (2013). Crossref
- [23]J. A. Fan, D. Sell, and J. Yang, “Device components formed of multiple layers of geometric structures or a three dimensional multi-layer, multi-material metasurface,” U. S. provisional patent No. 62/329,841 (2016).
- [28]J. Yang, C. Sauvan, T. Paul, C. Rockstuhl, F. Lederer, and P. Lalanne, “Retrieving the effective parameters of metamaterials from the single interface scattering problem,” Appl. Phys. Lett. 97(6), 061102 (2010). Crossref
- Authors
- Yang, J., & Fan, J. A.
- Affiliations
- Stanford University (US)
- Venue
- Optics Express
- Publisher
- Optica Publishing Group
- Published
- 2017-09-20
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 20
- Pages
- 23899
- ISSN
- 1094-4087 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2755160340
- Cited by
- 91
- References
- 26
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 14 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 10
- FWCI
- 3.35
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Optics Express (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- David and Lucile Packard Foundation (Packard Fellowship)
- Office of Naval Research (ONR) (N00014-16-1-2630)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials › Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Aerospace Engineering › Advanced Antenna and Metasurface Technologies
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Surfaces, Coatings and Films › Optical Coatings and Gratings
- Keywords
- dielectric metasurfaces, metagratings, material selection, dielectric constant, wavefront shaping, topology optimization, device thickness, light deflection angle, silicon, visible and infrared wavelengths
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
