Metasurface spatiotemporal dynamics and asymmetric photonic spin-orbit interactions mediated vector-polarization optical chaos

Abstract

We theoretically investigate metasurface spatiotemporal dynamics by introducing laser chaotic dynamics into metasurface domain. The spatiotemporal dynamics takes advantage of both the time-dependent dynamics of optical chaos and the local spatial regulation capability of metasurface. Specifically, an optical spatiotemporal dynamic phenomenon, termed as vector-polarization optical chaos (VPOC), is demonstrated through asymmetric photonic spin-orbit interactions between all-dielectric metalens and chaotic polarization light from the vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser. The VPOC has spatially inhomogeneous polarization distribution with dynamically varied spatial structure and polarization singularity, while the corresponding intensity time series is temporally chaotic, characterized by positive largest Lyapunov exponent and finite correlation dimension. We found that the two nonlinear indices keep invariant for different polarization-resolved intensity time series due to the circular symmetry of metalens. Our results open an avenue for emerging spatiotemporal optical dynamics with metasurface and may find exciting applications in spatiotemporal light control, free-space secure optical communication, and optical chaos integrated chip.