Development of metasurface for optoelectronic applications

纳米光子学近年来取得了巨大的发展，在不久的将来将对社会和经济产生变革性的影响。全球纳米光子市场正以超过43%的速度增长，预计到2022年将从2016年的77.2亿美元增加到660.3亿美元。这种令人兴奋的增长和机遇伴随着新的挑战。传统的光学器件本身是非平面的，体积大，体积大，不能使用平面制造技术实现。这些固有的局限性限制了传统光学在许多应用中的实用性。超表面是一种新的光学设计概念，可以克服这些限制。超表面由平面亚波长元素组成，对光的流动及其特性提供了前所未有的控制。具有宽相位可调性的可调谐高效超表面将彻底改变许多新兴技术，包括用于自动驾驶汽车的激光雷达、自适应光学和全息摄影。尽管在世界范围内进行了大量的研究，但这样的超表面尚未被报道。本申请中概述的研究计划旨在设计和实验证明这种超表面，并探索其在各种实际应用中的应用。该项目的成功将是纳米光子学的典范转变，并为商业应用开辟了许多机会，同时也推进了我们对亚波长尺度光-物质相互作用的了解。目前，开发性能适合实际需要的光学超表面在全球范围内竞争激烈。虽然加拿大有着丰富的纳米光子研究传统，但在这项竞争中却严重落后。加拿大迫切需要在这一迅速发展的领域加大研究和技术开发力度。拟议的研究将有助于加拿大成为纳米光子学研究这一新兴分支的领导者。它也将为学生提供一个理想的训练基地，他们将获得在光子设计、纳米制造和光学器件特性方面的实践经验，并成为加拿大光子产业劳动力的宝贵成员。

Nanophotonics has experienced tremendous growth in recent years, and will have transformational impact on the society and economy in the near future. The global nanophotonic market is growing at a rate of more than 43%, and is expected to increase from $7.72 billion in 2016 to $66.03 billion by 2022 [1]. This exciting growth and opportunity come with new challenges. Conventional optical devices are inherently nonplanar, large and bulky, and cannot be implemented using planar fabrication technology. These inherent limitations of traditional optics restrict its usefulness in many applications. Metasurface is a new optical design concept that can overcome these limitations. Metasurface consists of planar subwavelength elements, and provides unprecedented control on molding the flow of light and its properties. A tunable and efficient metasurface  with wide range of phase tunability will revolutionize many emerging technologies including LIDAR for autonomous vehicles, adaptive optics and holography. Despite worldwide intense research effort, such a metasurface is yet to be reported. The program of research outlined in this application aims to design and experimentally demonstrate such a  metasurface, and explore its applications for various practical applications. Success of this program will be a paradigm shift for nanophotonics, and open up many opportunities for commercial applications while also advancing our knowledge of light-matter interaction at subwavelength scale. Currently there is an intense global competition to develop optical metasurfaces with performance suitable for practical needs. Although Canada has a rich tradition of nanophotonic research, it is seriously lagging behind in this competition. There is an urgent need for ramping up the research and technology development effort in Canada in this rapidly advancing field. The proposed research will help establish Canada as a leader in this emerging branch of nanophotonics research. It will also provide an ideal training ground for students who will gain hands-on experience in photonic design, nanofabrication and characterization of optical devices, and become valuable members of the Canadian photonic industry workforce.