09 April 2024 | Pengcheng Huo, Wei Chen, Zixuan Zhang, Yanzeng Zhang, Mingze Liu, Peicheng Lin, Hui Zhang, Zhaoxian Chen, Henri Lezec, Wenyu Zhu, Amit Agrawal, Chao Peng, Yanqing Lu & Ting Xu
A microscale platform using a slanted nanograting is proposed and experimentally demonstrated to generate spatiotemporal optical vortices (STOVs). By breaking the C₂ symmetry and z-mirror symmetry of the nanograting, an isolated zero-valued singularity in the momentum-frequency space is created, enabling the generation of STOVs through the Fourier transform of the spiral phase in the momentum-frequency space to the spatiotemporal domain. The method achieves a generation efficiency exceeding 40% using femtosecond laser pulses with a duration of approximately 80 fs. The STOVs carry transverse orbital angular momentum and exhibit a donut-shaped wave envelope with a spiral phase singularity. The experimental setup involves a time-resolved interferometry technique to observe the spatiotemporal evolution of the STOVs. The device is fabricated using a slanted nanograting on a silicon substrate, and the results demonstrate the alignment-free nature of STOV generation. The method simplifies the setup and improves the efficiency of STOV generation, paving the way for integrated systems for spatiotemporal light manipulation. The work highlights the potential of using metasurfaces for spatiotemporal control of light pulses and opens new avenues for applications in ultrafast pulse shaping and light-matter interactions.A microscale platform using a slanted nanograting is proposed and experimentally demonstrated to generate spatiotemporal optical vortices (STOVs). By breaking the C₂ symmetry and z-mirror symmetry of the nanograting, an isolated zero-valued singularity in the momentum-frequency space is created, enabling the generation of STOVs through the Fourier transform of the spiral phase in the momentum-frequency space to the spatiotemporal domain. The method achieves a generation efficiency exceeding 40% using femtosecond laser pulses with a duration of approximately 80 fs. The STOVs carry transverse orbital angular momentum and exhibit a donut-shaped wave envelope with a spiral phase singularity. The experimental setup involves a time-resolved interferometry technique to observe the spatiotemporal evolution of the STOVs. The device is fabricated using a slanted nanograting on a silicon substrate, and the results demonstrate the alignment-free nature of STOV generation. The method simplifies the setup and improves the efficiency of STOV generation, paving the way for integrated systems for spatiotemporal light manipulation. The work highlights the potential of using metasurfaces for spatiotemporal control of light pulses and opens new avenues for applications in ultrafast pulse shaping and light-matter interactions.