Highly efficient birefringent quarter-wave plate based on all-dielectric metasurface and graphene

• Published in: Optics communications 2018-07, Vol.419, p.114-119
• Main Authors: Owiti, Edgar O., Yang, Hanning, Liu, Peng, Ominde, Calvine F., Sun, Xiudong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: All-dielectric; Magnetic resonance; Quarter-wave plate
• ISSN: 0030-4018; 1873-0310
• DOI: 10.1016/j.optcom.2018.03.018

All-dielectric metasurfaces offer remarkable properties including high efficiency and flexible control of the optical response. However, extreme, narrow bandwidth is a limitation that lowers applicability of these structures in photonic sensing applications. In this work, we numerically design and propose a switchable quarter-wave plate by hybridizing an all-dielectric metasurface with graphene. By using a single layer of graphene between a highly refractive index silicon and a silica substrate, the transmissive resonance is enhanced and broadened. Additionally, integrating graphene with silicon effectively modulates the Q-factor and the trapped magnetic modes in the silicon. A stable birefringence output is obtained and manipulated through the structure dimensions and the Fermi energy of graphene. A 95% polarization conversion ratio is achieved through converting linearly polarized light into circularly polarized light, and a 96% ellipticity ratio is obtained at the resonance wavelength. The structure is compact and has an ultrathin design thickness of 0.1λ, in the telecommunication region. The above properties are essential for integration into photonic sensing devices and the structure has potential for compatibility with the CMOS devices. •Efficient metasurface quarter wave plate (QWP) with no ohmic and radiative losses.•All-dielectric graphene based metasurface, tunable through properties of graphene.•Modulated magnetic resonance and enhanced birefringence bandwidth, through graphene.•Asymmetrical Dichroic property; linear polarization conversion to two circular states, RCP and LCP.•Hybrid graphene–dielectric structure with very high polarization conversion ratio (>95%).