Metasurfaces and their intelligent advances

Abstract

Metasurfaces exhibit excellent performance in the regulation of optical field parameters, such as phase, amplitude, and polarization, by using nanounit structures. The characteristics of metasurface miniaturization and its combination with advanced semiconductor processes have attracted significant attention, and their design and applications have become the focus of researchers recently. The design of traditional metasurfaces often requires professional designers. Consequently, design work has become difficult and time-consuming with the increase in the complexity of metasurface design. The introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) in metasurface design work has resulted in its rapid development and simplification. Furthermore, metasurfaces have begun to play the role of hidden layers in optical neural networks, and their intelligent properties are gradually being identified. Based on the introduction of the metasurface control mechanism, this paper reviews its intelligent designs and progress. Additionally, the feasibility, necessity, and broad prospects of the combination of AI with metasurfaces are clarified.

Keywords

• Metasurfaces
• Artificial intelligence
• Intelligent designs
• Optical neural networks
• Nanophotonics