Research on polarization-independent spatial light modulator in all-optical switching networks based on metasurface technology

This paper presents a polarization-independent spatial light modulator (SLM) design for all-optical switching networks using metasurface technology. By leveraging C4-symmetric dielectric meta-atoms and thermo-optic phase modulation, the proposed architecture achieves 92.4% switching efficiency at 1550 nm with <-32 dB crosstalk in 8×8 port configurations. Numerical simulations demonstrate robustness across ±15° incident angles and 300 nm operational bandwidth, outperforming conventional liquid crystal SLMs by 1000× in switching speed (1.2 ns) and 5× in power efficiency. Experimental validation confirms <3% polarization-dependent efficiency variation and 98% wavelength-division multiplexing fidelity at 100 Gbps/data rates. Fabrication challenges, including <5 nm overlay alignment tolerances and 250 W/cm² thermal limits, are analyzed alongside scalable solutions for 64×64 port architectures. The design enables reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexers and adaptive beamforming networks, addressing critical demands for low-latency quantum communications and terabit-scale data centers. Future work focuses on phase-change material integration and machine learning-driven meta-atom optimization to enhance endurance and scalability