From parabolic-trough to metasurface-concentrator

Abstract

Metasurfaces are promising tools towards novel designs for flat optics applications. As such their quality and tolerance to fabrication imperfections need to be evaluated with specific tools. However, most such tools rely on the geometrical optics approximation and are not straightforwardly applicable to metasurfaces. In this Letter, we introduce and evaluate, for metasurfaces, parameters such as the intercept factor and the slope error usually defined for solar concentrators in the realm of ray-optics. After proposing definitions valid in physical optics, we put forward an approach to calculate them. As examples, we design three different concentrators based on three specific unit cells and assess them numerically. The concept allows for the comparison of the efficiency of the metasurfaces, their sensitivities to fabrication imperfections and will be critical for practical systems.