Metasurfaces based on quasi-bound states in the continuum (quasi-BICs) constitute an emerging toolkit in nanophotonic sensing as they sustain high quality factor resonances and substantial near-field enhancements. It is demonstrated that silicon metasurfaces composed of crescent shaped meta-atoms provide tailored light-matter interaction controlled by the crescent geometry. Significantly, this metasurface not only exhibits a fundamental quasi-BIC resonance, but also supports a higher-order resonance with tunable electromagnetic field enhancement and advantageous properties for sensing. The higher-order resonance shows twice the sensitivity of the fundamental one for bulk refractive index sensing. It is further demonstrated that both the fundamental and higher-order resonances can be exploited for sensing ultrathin layers of biomolecules in air and buffer solutions. Specifically, when measuring in buffer solution, the figure of merit of the sensor, defined as the change in the spectral position of the resonance normalized to its full width at half maximum, is a factor of 2.5 larger for the higher-order resonance when compared to the fundamental one. Due to its high sensitivity and potential for straightforward microfluidic integration, the silicon crescent metasurface is ideally suited for real-time and in situ biosensing, enabling compact sensing devices for a wide range of diagnostic applications.

In this paper, a polarizability matrix retrieval method for bianisotropic metamaterials is presented. Assuming that scatterers can be modeled by electric and magnetic pointdipoles located at their centers, the induced dipole moments are analytically related to the normally incident fields, while the scattered fields are also analytically obtained for two individual cases of normal wave incidence. The latter can be combined with the incident fields, to express the desired polarizabilities, with regard to the measured or simulated scattering parameters. In this way, the polarizability matrix can be extracted by solving the resulting non-linear system of equations. The proposed technique is applied to two different split-ring resonator structures and reveals very good agreement with previously reported techniques.

Hierarchical plasmonic–photonic microspheres (PPMs) with high controllability in their structures and optical properties have been explored toward surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy. The PPMs consist of gold nanocrystal (AuNC) arrays (3rd-tier) anchored on a hexagonal nanopattern (2nd-tier) assembled from silica nanoparticles (SiO 2 NPs) where the uniform microsphere backbone is termed the 1st-tier. The PPMs sustain both photonic stop band (PSB) properties, resulting from periodic SiO 2 NP arrangements of the 2nd-tier, and a surface plasmon resonance (SPR), resulting from AuNC arrays of the 3rd-tier. Thanks to the synergistic effects of the photonic crystal (PC) structure and the AuNC array, the electromagnetic (EM) field in such a multiscale composite structure can tremendously be enhanced at certain wavelengths. These effects are demonstrated by experimentally evaluating the Raman enhancement of benzenethiol (BT) as a probe molecule and are confirmed via numerical simulations. We achieve a maximum SERS enhancement factor of up to ∼10 8 when the resonances are tailored to coincide with the excitation wavelength by suitable structural modifications.

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Optical metasurfaces consist of 2D arrangements of scatterers, and they control the amplitude, phase, and polarization of an incidence field on demand. Optical metasurfaces are the cornerstone for a future generation of flat optical devices in a wide range of applications. The rapid advances in nanofabrication have made the versatile design and analysis of these ultra‐thin surfaces an ever‐growing necessity. However, a comprehensive theory to describe the optical response of periodic metasurfaces in closed‐form and analytical expressions has not been formulated, and prior attempts are frequently approximate. Here, a theory is developed that analytically links the properties of the scatterer, from which a metasurface is made, to its response via the lattice coupling matrix. The scatterers are represented by their polarizability or T matrix. Explicit expressions for the optical response up to octupolar order in both spherical and Cartesian coordinates are provided, for normal or oblique incidence. Several examples demonstrate that the proposed theoretical approach is a powerful tool for exploring the physics of metasurfaces and designing novel flat optics devices. Novel fully‐diffracting metagratings and particle‐independent polarization filters are proposed, and novel insights into bound states in the continuum, collective lattice resonances, and the response of Huygens’ metasurfaces under oblique incidence are provided.

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A consistent algorithm for extracting the polarisability matrix of bianisotropic meta‐atoms directly from their reflection and transmission properties is introduced in this study. Considering a two‐dimensional periodic distribution of the scatterer under study, illuminated by properly‐polarised, normally‐incident, plane waves, the point‐dipole approximation is successfully applied in order to analytically compute the scattered field of the array in terms of the particle polarisabilities. Then, simulated or measured S‐parameters can be employed for the inversion of the resulting non‐linear system of equations, leading to the desired dynamic polarisability matrix and, especially, the magneto‐electric coupling term. Finally, the featured technique is applied to an assortment of important structures, frequently utilised for various metamaterial applications and the outcomes are extensively compared with previously existing techniques, thus verifying the merits of the novel approach.