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META-OPTICS

Metalenses go atomically thick and tunable

Nature Photonics volume 14, pages 409–410 (2020)Cite this article

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By utilizing exciton resonances in atomically thick semiconductors, researchers have now demonstrated the ultimate downscaling of optical lenses and reported on their efficacious electrical tunability.

The past few years have witnessed the appearance and tremendous development of metalenses — ultrathin lenses based on artificially designed metasurfaces1. Unlike bulky conventional lenses that have thicknesses of several wavelengths, metalenses are composed of resonant dielectric and metallic nanoantennas with the characteristic size of a few tens of nanometres packed with a subwavelength granularity. Such metalenses facilitate effective control over the phase and amplitude of light by means of the geometric-phase approach rather than by phase retardation upon light transmission, and thus are free, to a great extent, from the many optical aberrations inherent to conventional lenses2,3. Because of their unprecedented capabilities to control wavefronts, polarization and other light characteristics, metalenses are in high demand for imaging, microscopy and spectroscopy applications.

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Fig. 1: Atomically thick and tunable.

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  1. Advanced Science Research Center, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA

    Alex Krasnok

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  1. Alex Krasnok
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Correspondence to Alex Krasnok.

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Krasnok, A. Metalenses go atomically thick and tunable. Nat. Photonics 14, 409–410 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-020-0648-3

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