Continuous polarization–wavelength mapping with nonlocal metasurfaces
Simultaneous and continuous control over polarization and wavelength-two orthogonal and information-rich degrees of freedom-remains a central challenge in metasurface photonics, long hindered by intrinsic dispersion constraints and structural degeneracy. Here, we customize continuous polarization-wavelength mapping through a nonlocal metasurface platform that decouples birefringent evolution from structural dispersion. We achieve programmable, spectrally resolved polarization shaping across the broadband mid-infrared regime by introducing an equivalent nonlocal Jones matrix formalism and a dimension-interlaced vectorial diffraction neural network. This framework enables fully continuous and arbitrarily prescribed mapping across the joint polarization-wavelength space-beyond the capabilities of segmented or interleaved metasurface designs. We experimentally demonstrate non-degenerate multicolor vectorial holography, broadband achromatic imaging, and arbitrary elliptical polarization multiplexing with high fidelity and minimal crosstalk, maintaining strong channel isolation. Our results establish a scalable route toward continuous-domain photonic encoding, offering a powerful foundation for ultracompact optical communication, vectorial information encryption, and high-dimensional light-field processing.
Authors
- Jiuxu Wang
- Feilong Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6993-6558)
- Tie Geng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2970-4664)
- Yiran Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-0762-4938)
- Guanhai Li
- Tongwen Zheng
- Rongsheng Chen
- Jie Wang
- Jin Chen
- Xiaoshuang Chen
- Rong Jin
- Wei Lu
Institutions
- Shanghai Innovative Research Center of Traditional Chinese Medicine (CN)
- Shanghai Institute of Technical Physics (CN)
- Institute for Advanced Study (DE)
- Shanghai Clinical Research Center (CN)
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Light Science & Applications
- Published
- 2026-03-13
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41377-026-02233-5
- Primary Topic
- Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Chinese Academy of Sciences
- Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality
- ShanghaiTech University
- National Key Research and Development Program of China