It typically takes several independently-controlled components to fully manipulate the various degrees of freedom (e.g. wavelength, shape, and power) of a laser beam. In this publication, we show that a single reflective metasurface and a laser diode can exert full control of the shape and intensity of diffraction orders. The design does not require any rotating components and is compact. The research has applications in quantum sensing and virtual reality/augmented reality (VR/AR) headsets. 

Check out the publication in Nature Communications and the press release from Harvard SEAS!