In recent work, we have shown that a suitably-designed polarization-sensitive metasurface grating when paired with a conventional imaging system can serve as an "attachment" rendering it capable of polarization imaging. We describe the design rules that govern this process, and show as an example the adaptation of a simple machine vision camera with a metasurface grating.

More broadly, the work serves as a guide to using metasurface polarization gratings in optical systems more generally. These may be used as a polarization-sensitive component in a wide variety of contexts,...

Terahertz radiation lies in the transition region between the microwave and infrared spectra. It has much potential in civil and defence applications, including communications, imaging, and spectroscopy. Yet, the major obstacle to the widespread use of this spectrum has...

The peculiar physics of quantum cascade lasers has led to the discovery of new frequency comb phenomena beyond traditional ones such as harmonic states, characterized by mode skipping, time-dependent spatial hole burning, turbulent states, recently observed in ring cavities, just to mention a few. These new types of frequency combs open technological and fundamental perspectives, such as laser radio applications and deep connections with passive Kerr microresonators, which are the object of our review.

See the publication on Laser and Photonics Reviews...

Optical vortices —light structures which look like donuts and can rotate around their axis of propagation— have attracted wide interest as new means for free space communications, optical trapping, and structured illumination in microscopes. Current wavefront shaping methods, however, can only provide limited control over the vorticity and the polarization (photon’s spin) of those beams in 3D space, thus limiting their application. In this study, we introduce a new type of metasurfaces which can generate complex optical vortices in which both the vortex strength and polarization state...

Transparent bulk optical components have an unfortunate tendency to stretch out ultrashort laser pulses upon transmission. This effect – also known as group delay dispersion – destroys the carefully designed time-structure of the affected pulses. In this study, we show that precisely shaped silicon nanopillars can achieve the opposite effect, compressing the laser pulses and compensating for the dispersion of other optical elements. The technology is ready to be coated onto abundantly available standard optics to allow their application in the future of ultrafaster femtosecond optics....

Spatial light modulators (SLM) provide tailored light fields for many applications. Here, we show that an SLM device can be realized from a structure as simple as a single organic electro-optic material deposited on top of interlaced gold electrodes. When we apply an electric signal across these electrodes, the refractive index of the electro-optical film changes. By nanoscale engineering of the nonlinear properties of the material and electrodes, we demonstrate modulation of the intensity of light at speeds up to 50 MHz, with tiny microwatt-level switching electrical...