Optical Fiber-Integrated Metasurfaces: An Emerging Platform for Multiple Optical Applications

Abstract

The advent of metasurface technology has revolutionized the field of optics and photonics in recent years due to its capability of engineering optical wavefronts with well-patterned nanostructures at subwavelength scale. Meanwhile, inspired and benefited from the tremendous success of the “lab-on-fiber” concept, the integration of metasurface with optical fibers has drawn particular interest in the last decade, which establishes a novel technological platform towards the development of “all-in-fiber” metasurface-based devices. Thereby, this review aims to present and summarize the optical fiber-integrated metasurfaces with the current state of the art. The application scenarios of the optical fiber metasurface-based devices are well classified and discussed accordingly, with a brief explanation of physical fundamentals and design methods. The key fabrication methods corresponding to various optical fiber metasurfaces are summarized and compared. Furthermore, the challenges and potential future research directions of optical fiber metasurfaces are addressed to further leverage the flexibility and versatility of meta-fiber-based devices. It is believed that the optical fiber metasurfaces, as a novel all-around technological platform, will be exploited for a large range of applications in telecommunication, sensing, imaging, and biomedicine.

Metasurface‐Based Fiber‐to‐Chip Multiplexing Coupler

“…Fortunately, great efforts have been made by researchers toward the fabrication of similar meta‐devices using electron‐beam lithography (EBL), focus ion beam (FIB) milling, photolithography, nanoimprinting, direct laser writing and nanotransfer. [ 32,33 ]…”

“…Therefore, it is necessary and useful for us to propose the possible fabrication scheme. Based on the fabrication method in the literature [ 33 ] and the specific structures of the proposed multiplexing coupler, we propose two possible fabrication schemes, as follows.…”

“…Fortunately, great efforts have been made by researchers toward the fabrication of similar meta-devices using electron-beam lithography (EBL), focus ion beam (FIB) milling, photolithography, nanoimprinting, direct laser writing and nanotransfer. [32,33] However, nearly all fabricated optical fiber meta-devices at the current stage are composed of lossy metallic materials. Using other dielectric materials like Si in the proposed multiplexing coupler is still a challenge and need further exploration although some simple nanostructures are demonstrated by using EBL technology.…”

Transmissive Polarizer Metasurfaces: From Microwave to Optical Regimes

“…The most attractive feature of the MS is its ability to control reflected and transmitted fields, which makes it highly effective for certain applications and replaces conventional bulky equipment. There have been excellent review articles on MSs covering theory, fundamentals and applications [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ] and their complex fabrication [ 12 ]. For example, Zhao et al reviewed optical fiber-integrated MSs for applications, such as telecommunication, sensing, imaging, and biomedicine [ 10 ].…”

“…There have been excellent review articles on MSs covering theory, fundamentals and applications [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ] and their complex fabrication [ 12 ]. For example, Zhao et al reviewed optical fiber-integrated MSs for applications, such as telecommunication, sensing, imaging, and biomedicine [ 10 ]. Holloway et al focused on the development in recent years of such MSs from microwave to optical regimes [ 11 ].…”