Compact Generation of Ultraviolet Structured Light via Low‐Loss Dielectric Metasurfaces

Abstract Structured light plays a crucial role in various applications such as high‐resolution imaging, optical communication, and quantum information processing. However, flexibly generating structured light in the UV region with conventional optical elements remains challenging due to material absorption and system complexity. Here, high‐efficiency, versatile UV structured light generation using low‐loss dielectric metasurfaces is demonstrated. Fabricated from hafnium oxide via low‐temperature atomic layer deposition‐based Damascene lithography, these metasurfaces leverage both geometric and propagation phase modulations to achieve independent control over the polarization and phase of incident light. The implemented devices convert a Gaussian beam into various structured light modes having different radial indices, topological charges, and polarization orders, with operational efficiencies of up to 72% at a free‐space wavelength of 360 nm. Additionally, the metasurfaces support polarization multiplexing functionality, enabling dynamic switching between radial and azimuthal polarization distributions of the generated beams by adjusting the incident polarization. This work provides an effective approach for compact, low‐loss, and flexible chip‐scale UV structured light generation, with promising applications in imaging, sensing, communication, and quantum optics.