Part of the book: Laser Systems for Applications
In this chapter, a review of the recent advances in optical metalenses is presented, with special emphasis in their experimental implementation. First, the Huygens’ principle applied to ultrathin engineered metamaterials is introduced for the purpose of giving curvature to the wavefront of free-space wave fields. Primary designs based on metallic nanoslits and holey screens occasionally with variant width are first examined. Holographic plasmonic lenses are also explored offering a promising route to realize nanophotonic components. More recent metasurfaces based on nano-antenna resonators, either plasmonic or high-index dielectric, are analyzed in detail. Furthermore, 2D material lenses in the scale of a few nanometers enabling the thinnest lenses to date are here considered. Finally, dynamically reconfigurable focusing devices are reported for creating a scenario with new functionalities.
Part of the book: Metamaterials
The title “Dyakonov surface waves: anisotropy enabling confinement on the edge” plainly sets the scope for this chapter. The focus here is on the formation of bounded waves at the interface of two distinct media, at least one of them exhibiting optical anisotropy, which are coined as Dyakonov surface waves (DSWs) in recognition to the physicist who reported their existence for the first time. First, the general aspects of the topic are discussed. It also treats the characterization of bounded waves in isotropic-uniaxial multilayered structures, allowing not only the derivation of the dispersion equation of DSWs but also that of surface plasmons polaritons (SPPs), for instance. Furthermore, the interaction of such surfaces waves, with the possibility of including guided waves in a given planar layer and external sources mimicking experimental setups, can be accounted for by using the transfer matrix formalism introduced here. Finally, special attention is devoted to hyperbolic media with indefinite anisotropy-enabling hybridized scenarios integrating the prototypical DSWs and SPPs.
Part of the book: Surface Waves