Volumetric generation of optical vortices with metasurfaces

Recent advances in metasurfaces, i.e., two-dimensional arrays of engineered nanoscale inclusions that are assembled onto a surface, have revolutionized the way to control electromagnetic waves with ultrathin, compact components. The generation of optical vortex beams, which carry orbital angular momentum, has emerged as a vital approach to applications ranging from high-capacity optical communication to parallel laser fabrication. However, the typically bulky elements used for the generation of optical vortices impose a fundamental limit toward on-chip integration with subwavelength footprints. Here, we investigate and experimentally demonstrate a three-dimensional volumetric optical vortices generation based on light–matter interaction with a high-efficiency dielectric metasurface. By employing the concepts of Dammann vortex gratings and spiral Dammann zone plates, a 3D optical vortex array with micrometer spatial separation is achieved from visible to near-infrared wavelengths. Importantly, we show that the topological charge distribution can be spatially variant and fully controlled by the design.