| NIST researchers designed and fabricated an on-chip system to shape multiple laser beams (blue arrows) and control their polarization before the light is sent into space to interact with a device or material. Three components all contribute to manipulating the laser beams: An evanescent coupler (EVC), which couples light from one device to another; a metagrating (MG), a tiny surface imprinted with millions of tiny holes that scatter light just as a large-scale diffraction grating would; and a metasurface (MS), a small glass surface studded with millions of pillars that acts as lenses. Credit: NIST. |
