Broadband Vortex Beam Generation Using Multimode Pancharatnam–Berry Metasurface

Abstract

Vortex beams have been extensively realized using different approaches. Typically, the efficiency and bandwidth of a vortex beam are limited by impure copolarized components and the intrinsic dispersion of passive resonant structures. Here, we propose a strategy to generate wideband vortex beams by using a Pancharatnam-Berry metasurface in which two orthogonal reflections exhibit a broadband out-of-phase difference. To achieve this, a broadband strategy based on multimode operation and dispersion engineering methods was established. A dual-layer meta-atom is proposed; each layer comprises of five metallic dipoles, and the geometrical parameters are carefully adjusted to tune the resonant frequencies. Because the dipole orientations in each layer are orthogonal, the reflection responses under the two orthogonal polarizations can be independently engineered. Both numerical and experimental results indicate that our method not only enables a high-efficiency spiral beam conversion over a broad range of 6.95-18 GHz (>82%) but also causes a polarization-insensitive effect; thus, it can be adapted for any linear or circular polarization.