Generation and high-resolution imaging of higher-order polarization via metasurface

Abstract

The generation and focusing properties of higher-order polarized beams have attracted lots of interests due to its significant applications. In this paper,we derived the formula of transforming linear polarization into higher-order polarization, which is applicable to generating arbitrary order polarization. Based on the derived formula, the focusing properties of higher-order polarization by dielectric metasurface lens are studied , which exhibit an Abbe-limit-breaking feature for small numerical aperture, i.e., NA<0.6. When a binary phase (0 & {\pi}) is further imposed on the aperture of metasurface lens, the focusing spot of fourth-order polarization breaks Abbe limit even by 14.3% at NA= 0.6. In addition, the effect of fabrication tolerance, say, substrate thickness and central deviation, on the focusing feature of higher-order polarization is also investigated. Our study may find significant applications in achieving higher-resolution lithography and imaging, say, by just replacing conventional linear or circular polarization with higher-order polarization.