title: A broadband, background-free quarter-wave plate based on plasmonic metasurfaces.
abstract: We demonstrate optically thin quarter-wave plates built with metasurfaces that generate high-quality circularly polarized light over a broad wavelength range for arbitrary orientation of the incident linear polarization. The metasurface consists of an array of plasmonic antennas with spatially varying phase and polarization responses. Experimentally demonstrated quarter-wave plates generate light with a high degree of circular polarization (>0.97) from λ = 5 to 12 μm, representing a major advance in performance compared to previously reported plasmonics-based wave plates.
authors.affiliation: School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, United States.
authors.forename: Nanfang
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Aieta
authors.forename: Patrice
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Genevet
authors.forename: Mikhail A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Kats
authors.forename: Zeno
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Gaburro
authors.forename: Federico
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Capasso
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D008027:Light; D012031:Refractometry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D020349:Surface Plasmon Resonance / Q000295:instrumentation*; D013499:Surface Properties