Research Article

Gigahertz-rate-switchable wavefront shaping

through integration of metasurfaces with
photonic integrated circuit
Haozong Zhong ,a,† Yong Zheng,a,† Jiacheng Sun,b,† Zhizhang Wang ,b Rongbo Wu,a Ling-en Zhang,a
Youting Liang,a Qinyi Hua,a Minghao Ning,a Jitao Ji,b Bin Fang ,c Lin Li,a,d,* Tao Li,b,* Ya Cheng,a,d,e,* and
Shining Zhub,*
a
East China Normal University, School of Physics and Electronic Science, State Key Laboratory of Precision Spectroscopy, Shanghai, China
b
Nanjing University, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, Nanjing, China
c
China Jiliang University, College of Optical and Electronic Technology, Hangzhou, China
d
Shanxi University, Collaborative Innovation Center of Extreme Optics, Taiyuan, China
e
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics (SIOM), State Key Laboratory of High Field Laser Physics and
CAS Center for Excellence in Ultra-Intense Laser Science, Shanghai, China

Abstract. Achieving spatiotemporal control of light at high speeds presents immense possibilities for various
applications in communication, computation, metrology, and sensing. The integration of subwavelength
metasurfaces and optical waveguides offers a promising approach to manipulate light across multiple
degrees of freedom at high speed in compact photonic integrated circuit (PIC) devices. Here, we
demonstrate a gigahertz-rate-switchable wavefront shaping by integrating metasurface, lithium niobate on
insulator photonic waveguides, and electrodes within a PIC device. As proofs of concept, we showcase
the generation of a focus beam with reconfigurable arbitrary polarizations, switchable focusing with lateral
focal positions and focal length, orbital angular momentum light beams as well as Bessel beams. Our
measurements indicate modulation speeds of up to the gigahertz rate. This integrated platform offers a
versatile and efficient means of controlling the light field at high speed within a compact system, paving
the way for potential applications in optical communication, computation, sensing, and imaging.
Keywords: metasurface; photonic integrated circuit; lithium niobate on insulator; high-speed modulation.
Received Jun. 29, 2023; revised manuscript received Sep. 25, 2023; accepted for publication Jan. 9, 2024; published online
Feb. 2, 2024.
© The Authors. Published by SPIE and CLP under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Distribution or
reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.
[DOI: 10.1117/1.AP.6.1.016005]

1 Introduction dimensional nanostructures.4,5 Metasurfaces have demonstrated

significant promise for a wide range of applications in both
The remarkable multiple degrees of freedom (DOFs) possessed fundamental science and industry, including wavefront shap-
by light, including large bandwidth and high-speed transmission ing,6,7 polarization control,8–10 imaging,11,12 spectrometry,13,14
capabilities, make photonic technology an extremely promising and computation.15 Recently, considerable research efforts have
platform for high-speed communication and high-performance been devoted to developing metasurfaces to achieve tunable or
computing in information science.1–3 Over the last decade, meta- reconfigurable functionalities.3,16 A high-speed spatiotemporally
surfaces have emerged as an unprecedented approach for controlled metasurface possesses the potential to facilitate novel
manipulating light in various DOFs using compact, artificial two- physics and practical applications within the realm of photonic
technology. Numerous materials and strategies have been pro-
*Address all correspondence to Lin Li, lli@lps.ecnu.edu.cn; Tao Li, taoli@ posed to empower tunable metasurfaces, including the utilization
nju.edu.cn; Ya Cheng, ya.cheng@siom.ac.cn; Shining Zhu, zhusn@nju.edu.cn of phase-change materials, liquid crystal, thermo-optic effect,
†
These authors contributed equally to this work. and electro-optic effect.17–22 However, effectively exploring

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tunability in multiple DOFs with high speed and sufficient ef- the introduction of a Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI)
ficiency remains a significant challenge in metasurface research. and a phase shifter together with two pairs of electrodes, both
On the other hand, photonic integrated circuits (PICs) re- the amplitude and the phase of the two orthogonal modes could
present an alternative to traditional electronic technologies by be managed, enabling the generation of light with arbitrary po-
utilizing light. Diverse applications have been demonstrated larizations spanning the entire surface of Poincaré sphere at high
with PICs, including high-speed optical communication, signal speed. Meanwhile, a well-designed polarization-dependent
processing, computing, and emerging technologies in quantum, metasurface is introduced to achieve the desired functionality
biomedicine, and sensing.23–28 Particularly, the advent of lithium and facilitate high-speed modulation or switching. With this
niobate on insulator (LNOI) has propelled PICs as a promising stratagem, switchable focusing with lateral focal positions and
platform for future high-speed electro-optic (EO) integrated focal length, OAMs as well as Bessel beams are demonstrated.
devices,29 such as high-performance modulators,30,31 frequency By effectively combining the propagation phase and geometric
combs,32,33 polarization controllers,34,35 and quantum optics phase of birefringent nanostructures within this waveguide
circuits.36,37 However, the full utilization of the DOFs of light in scheme, we demonstrate the switchability of these functional-
traditional two-dimensional PICs has not been realized, thereby ities in arbitrary orthogonal polarizations. The switching speed
limiting their application in optical information technologies. reaches gigahertz rates, while the modulation speeds can be op-
Recently, the integration of metasurfaces with waveguides timized to reach hundreds of gigahertz using tailored electrodes
has enabled PICs to manage multiple DOFs of light in both and LNOI PIC waveguides. This approach provides a versatile
free space and waveguides with on-chip devices, providing a and efficient means of controlling light propagation in a com-
highly integrated platform for efficient photonics management.38 pact and integrated system with simple electrical wiring and
A variety of applications have been reported with the guided- low power consumption, and promises important advantages in
wave-driven metasurfaces, such as mode conversion,39,40 on- scenarios such as optical communication, computation, sensing,
chip lenses,41,42 holography,43,44 OAM generators,3,45–48 as well and imaging.
as polarization control.49,50 Nevertheless, achieving high-speed
wavefront shaping and switching capabilities through the inte- 2 Results and Discussions
gration of metasurfaces, photonic waveguides, and electrical cir- Figure 1(a) schematically shows the PIC-driven metasurface
cuits remains a significant scientific and technological challenge device. Two fundamental transverse-electric (TE0 ) modes from
for PICs and metasurfaces. LN ridge waveguides are transformed into two orthogonally
In this work, we propose and demonstrate a gigahertz-rate- propagated TE0 modes in the slab waveguide. This transforma-
switchable wavefront shaping by integrating metasurfaces with tion is achieved through the use of adiabatic tapers, as illustrated
LNOI PICs. An arbitrarily polarized light could be generated by within the dashed square in Fig. 1(a). The zoomed-in view of
combining a waveguide with two orthogonally propagated the region is provided in Fig. 1(b). The electromagnetic wave in
modes and nanoscatterers at the specific positions.45 Through the slab waveguide can be expressed as

Fig. 1 (a) Schematic diagram of PIC-driven metasurface device with LNOI; the red arrow is the
direction of optical axis. (b) The zoomed-in scheme of the integrated metasurface is depicted with
the fictitious wavefront of the waveguide modes. (c) The simulated static electric field when 1 V is
applied between the electrodes, superimposed with the simulated optical field profile of the TE0
mode in the LN ridge waveguide. The black dashed lines indicate the electrodes. They have a
height of 300 nm and are spaced apart by 6.5 μm. The top width of the LN ridge waveguide is
1 μm, and the etch depth is 210 nm.

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 qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
Aeiðφx þxn βx Þ 2π  
Exy ¼ ; (1) φðx; yÞ ¼ − x2 þ y2 þ f 2 − f ; (3)
Beiðφy þyn βy Þ λ
where f is the distance between the device plane and the focal
where A, B, φx , and φy represent the amplitudes and initial plane, i.e., the focal length. Then, the metasurface is constructed
phases of the two guided waves, respectively. βx and βy are by arranging this set of silicon cylinders on top of the slab wave-
the propagation constants of the guided waves in slab wave- guide to extract the desired polaritons state with the phase pro-
guide. The near orthogonal nature of the two transverse compo- file for focusing. Here, the focal length is designed to be
nents of the electric field enables the synthesis of a wide range of f ¼ 50 μm. The silicon cylinders have identical dimensions,
polarization states across the entire surface of the Poincaré with a radius of R ¼ 100 nm and a height of H ¼ 1000 nm.
sphere. This synthesis is achieved by manipulating the ampli- The detailed design process of the metasurface array and the
tudes and phase lags (Δφ ¼ φx þ xn βx − φy − yn βy ) of the two fabrication process are described in sections 2 and 7 in the
components. To enable high-speed modulation, an electrically Supplementary Material, respectively. Figure 2(a) displays
controlled MZI and a phase shifter are utilized to modulate the microscope image of the fabricated device, where the elec-
the amplitude and phase of the two components. Subsequently, trodes have a length of 5 mm and a gap of 6.5 μm between them.
guided-wave-driven silicon metasurfaces are strategically Figure 2(b) shows the scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
positioned on the slab waveguide, with specific uniform polar- image of the fabricated metasurface. We captured the three-
izations, to generate a variety of electrically controlled function- dimensional (3D) scattered light-field distribution above the
alities. These functionalities can be manipulated at high speeds, device using a home-built optical setup (section 6 in the
offering enhanced control and versatility. Supplementary Material). An image recorded at the x − z plane
The device is designed and fabricated on an x-cut LNOI is illustrated in Fig. 2(c), revealing a distinct focal spot with a
platform to provide the best electro-optical performance. full width at half-maximum (FWHM) of ∼2 μm.
Considering the anisotropy of x-cut LN, both TE0 modes are By adjusting the voltages applied to the electrodes of the MZI
specifically designed to propagate at a 45 deg angle to the short and the phase shifter, the polarization state of the focal spot can
optical axis of LN. This arrangement ensures that the wave vec- be dynamically manipulated. To evaluate the performance of the
tors βx ¼ βy and maintains a symmetric polarization distribu- reconfiguration polarizations of our device, two triangle wave
tion, as shown in Fig. 1(a). To precisely get the polarization signals with frequencies of 1 and 100 kHz are applied to the
distribution on the waveguide, we perform a finite-difference electrodes of the MZI and phase shifter, respectively. The
time-domain (FDTD) simulation to get the amplitude and phase peak-to-peak drive voltages (V pp ) are set to 9.2 V, corresponding
evolution over the slab waveguide at the experiment wavelength to a phase shift of ∼2π. The blue dots in Fig. 2(d) depict
of 1550 nm, as shown in Fig. S1 in the Supplementary Material. the measured sampling points on the Poincaré sphere (the
Directional couplers (DCs) are employed to achieve the tunable schematic diagram of the experimental setup is presented in sec-
splitting function of the MZI, having a center-to-center spacing tion 6 in the Supplementary Material and the corresponding
of 4.5 μm and a length of 300 μm. Meanwhile, ground–signal– measured Stokes parameters are presented in section 7 in the
ground (G–S–G) electrodes are used in the inner and outer Supplementary Material), representing the polarization states
phase shifters of the MZI to induce phase shifts in a single-drive of the focal spot. The polarization extinction ratio (PER) was
push–pull configuration, so that the electric field induces phase measured to be ∼20 dB (section 3 in the Supplementary
shifts in both arms with equal magnitude but opposite signs. The Material). The majority of the Poincaré sphere’s surface is
simulated optical field profile of the TE0 mode in the LN ridge covered, with the exception of two areas near the north and
waveguide together with the static electric field between the south poles. This deviation is mainly due to imperfections in
electrodes is shown in Fig. 1(c), exhibiting a good overlap of the fabrication process, resulting in a splitting ratio of the DC
the two fields. in the MZI that deviates from the ideal 50:50 ratio. This issue
The PIC-driven metasurface is initially investigated to show- can be addressed by employing an additional electrically con-
case a functionality with arbitrary reconfigurable polarization. trolled interferometer to improve the splitting ratio.34 Figure 2(e)
In order to demonstrate the feasibility of this approach, a focus- depicts the good stability of the generated polarization state,
ing beam achieved with a silicon nanocylinder metasurface is indicating its robustness. Figure 2(f) showcases the switching
investigated. The

Jones  matrix of isotropic silicon nanocylinders performance between two polarizations, highlighting the high
iα 1 0 repeatability of polarization generation. By adjusting the volt-
is given by e , where α is the propagation phase of the
0 1 ages applied to the electrodes, transitions between any polarized
nanocylinders. The electromagnetic wave extracted to free space states within the blue region of Fig. 2(d) can be achieved with
by silicon cylinders can be expressed as the same level of stability and repeatability. These results exhibit
the promising capability of our device for wavefront shaping




 with good control over reconfigurable arbitrary polarization
Exout 1 0 Aeiðφx þxn βx Þ Aeiðφx þxn βx Þ
¼ eiα ¼ eiα : states.
Eyout 0 1 Beiðφy þyn βy Þ Beiðφy þyn βy Þ In addition to enabling the generation of a single wavefront
(2) with reconfigurable polarizations, this scheme has the capability
to achieve high-speed switchable multifunctionalities through
Thus, the phase profile of the free-space electromagnetic the incorporation of polarization-dependent metasurfaces, which
wave depends on the location of the silicon cylinders. On the holds tremendous potential for a wide range of applications.
other hand, to generate a focused beam in free space, the phase To exhibit this capability, we first introduce a geometric
of light scattered from the metasurface has a distribution de- metasurface to the PIC device, enabling the realization of two
scribed as focal points with orthogonal polarizations at different lateral

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Fig. 2 (a) The microscope image of the fabricated device. The length of the two sets of electrodes
is 0.5 mm. (b) SEM image of the fabricated metasurface on the waveguide. (c) The measured
intensity profile at the x − z plane. (d) The measured polarization states on the Poincaré sphere
of the focal spot. The blue dots on the Poincaré sphere represent the polarization states of the
focal spot obtained from experimental testing. (e) Stokes parameters of one of the generated
polarization state (45 deg linear polarization as shown in the inset) as a function of time.
(f) Stokes parameters by switching between two generated polarization states.

positions. The metasurface is composed of two sets of silicon an extinction ratio of ∼10.2 dB. The electro-optical tunability
nanobars as shown in Fig. 3(a), which are designed to realize of the device was evaluated by directing the light from one focus
two foci based on left circular polarization (LCP) and right to a high-speed photon detector [FINISAR XPDV21x0(RA)]
circular polarization (RCP) states, respectively. The two sets for analysis (section 6 in the Supplementary Material). The mea-
of nanostructures are spatially multiplexed with a near face sured V π of the device is ∼4.6 V as shown in Fig. 3(i)
centered square unit with the period of the effective wavelength (corresponding to a V π · L of 2.3 V·cm). Figure 3(j) presents
of the TE0 mode in the slab waveguide (section 2 in the the peak electro-optic modulation amplitude for frequencies
Supplementary Material). In this arrangement, the two sets up to 2 GHz. The result indicates the electro-optic bandwidth of
of nanostructures are positioned in locations with the same the sample is around 1.4 GHz, providing clear evidence of its
local polarization ψ. By adjusting the voltages applied to gigahertz tunability. Furthermore, the switching speed could be
the electrodes, the local polarization ψ can be dynamically further improved to hundreds of gigahertz by carefully opti-
switched between LCP and RCP states. Through this control mized the electrodes and waveguide design.
mechanism, the scattered light can be switched between the two Apart from the ability to vary the lateral positions of the focal
designed focal spots, respectively. Meanwhile, the unwanted points, this scheme also enables dynamic switching of the focal
co-polarization noise will be greatly suppressed due to the phase length, which holds great significance and has garnered plenty
mismatch.45 of attention.51,52 To demonstrate this concept, two different sets
In the experiment, the silicon nanobars have a uniform length of nanostructures are designed, resulting in two focal points
(L) of 300 nm, width (W) of 100 nm, and height (H) of with focal lengths of f ¼ 35 μm and f ¼ 50 μm, respectively.
1000 nm. The corresponding SEM image of fabricated metasur- Figures 4(d)–4(f) show the recorded images of the foci by vary-
face on the slab waveguide is shown in Fig. 3(b). The two foci ing the voltage applied to the phase shifter, which agrees well
are designed at x ¼ 5 μm and x ¼ −5 μm, with the center of the with the calculated results [Figs. 4(a)–4(c)]. The focal points
metasurface array serving as the origin of coordinates. The focal can be dynamically adjusted between these two states or any
length is set to f ¼ 50 μm for both spots. Figures 3(f)–3(h) intermediate states. These integrated lenses with high-speed
show the recorded images of the foci at different voltages for switchable focal positions and lengths hold promise for future
the phase control. The voltage of the MZI is offset to ensure high-speed portable imaging applications, opening up new pos-
equal amplitudes in the two arms. By adjusting the voltages ap- sibilities in the field.
plied to the phase shifter, the scattered energy gradually transi- The high-speed switchable wavefront-shaping technique
tions between the two focal spots. The experimental results holds immense potential for various applications such as optical
align well with the calculated images based on the correspond- communications, imaging, optical computation, sensing, and
ing designed local polarizations, as shown in Figs. 3(c)–3(e). more. Particularly, the generation of optical orbital angular
This result demonstrates the effectiveness of the adopted strat- momentum (OAM) with a large modulation bandwidth is of
egy. A video illustrating the dynamic modulation process is significant importance in the realm of optical communication.53
provided in the Supplementary Material. We replace the focus beams with two OAMs with different topo-
To accurately assess the modulation performance, we inte- logical numbers and locations by mapping the required phase
grated the recorded focal intensities in Fig. 3 and observed distributions to the two sets of metasurfaces. Figures 4(j)–4(l)

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Fig. 3 (a) The schematic of the switchable metasurface design. (b) SEM image of the fabricated
metasurface structure. (c)–(e) Calculated results of foci under different local polarization states ψ
depicted in the figures. (f)–(h) The corresponding experimental results. The polarization states are
realized by applying different voltages shown in the figures to the electrodes, respectively. (i) The
intensity of the right focus in (f) as a function of applied voltage. (j) Peak electro-optic amplitude for
modulation frequencies up to 2 GHz (Video 1, MP4, 120 KB [URL: https://doi.org/10.1117/1.AP.6
.1.016005.s1]).

show the typical recorded OAM images by varying the voltages phase of birefringent nanostructures for free-space light.54
applied to the electrode of the phase shifter, which agree well It holds significant importance in applications involving polari-
with the calculated results under certain corresponding polariza- zation optics, offering enhanced versatility and adaptability.
tions, shown in Figs. 4(g)–4(i). The left OAM beam is designed However, this scheme is still awaiting clarification in the
with l ¼ þ1 in LCP state and the right one is designed with guided-wave-driven metasurfaces due to the overlapping of the
l ¼ −1 in RCP state. The results exhibit that the integrated in-plane waveguide mode and the nanostructures. Meanwhile,
device has the capability to dynamically manipulate OAM the scattering efficiency of the nanostructures on the waveguide
beams with various topological numbers, offering promising exhibits a strong dependence on their size, and this behavior
applications in optical communications and manipulations. differs significantly from the transmission characteristics of
These findings indicate the feasibility of utilizing a geometric metasurfaces in the free-space configuration. Here, we present
phase-based spatial multiplexing multichannel device within the successful engineering and dynamic switching of a wave-
our platform. front in arbitrary polarization states with the metasurface on
The aforementioned multifunction switchable devices are de- a PIC device. When a birefringent nanostructure scatters the
signed with a geometric phase constraint limited to circular po- waveguide mode with an arbitrary local polarization of Ψ1 ,
larizations. Indeed, it is important to note that this constraint can the scattered light can be decomposed into a pair of orthogonal
be extended to encompass any arbitrary orthogonal polarization polarization states, Ψþ −
2 and Ψ2 , respectively. The two decom-
states by considering the geometric phase and propagation posed components can be expressed as

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Fig. 4 (a)–(c) Calculated results of switchable focal length under different local polarization states
depicted in the figures. (d)–(f) The corresponding experimental results were realized by applying
different voltages to the electrodes as shown in the figures, respectively. (g)–(i) Calculated results
of switchable OAM beams with switchable topological charges under different local polarization
states depicted in the figures. (j)–(l) The corresponding experimental results were realized by
applying different voltages to the electrodes as shown in the figures, respectively.


Tx T xy simulations (section 5 in the Supplementary Material). Here,
 iϕ
O e ¼ ξ̂ Ψ1 ; (4)
2 T xy Ty the width and the length of the nanostructure are varied between
100 and 500 nm and the height is 1000 nm. The amplitude and
the phase of the scattering upon different dimensions are shown
where ξ^ 
2 represents the projection operators for the polarization
in Figs. 5(a) and 5(b). A genetic algorithm is employed to re-
states of Ψþ −  
2 and Ψ2 , respectively. O and φ are the amplitude trieve the required dimensions for the desired Jones matrix with
and phase of the scattered light after the projection operation, near-uniform scattering intensity. Finally, arbitrary phase pro-
respectively. Considering the physical characteristics of linear files in the independent polarization channels could be realized
birefringent metasurfaces and their ability to consistently con- by spatially arranging the retrieved nanostructures.
vert input polarization states into output polarization states with Similar to the geometric phase-based metasurfaces demon-
arbitrary phase delays, it is necessary for the input and output strated above, by varying the polarization distribution within
polarization states to be a pair of orthogonal
polarizationstates. the planar waveguide region, we can switch the wavefronts
T x T xy designed upon the arbitrary independent polarization channels.
On the other hand, the required Jones matrix could
T xy T y As an example, here we demonstrate an integrated generation
be implemented by utilizing rectangular nanostructures and of switchable Bessel beams with arbitrary polarizations, which
adjusting their dimensions to impose arbitrary phase delays have garnered significant interest across a wide range of re-
upon two orthogonal polarization states. The aforementioned pffiffiffi
search fields. The polarization pffiffiffi Bessel beams
states of the two
outcome can be comprehended as the amalgamation of both are designed with 1∕ 5½ 2 eiπ∕4 T and 1∕ 5½ 1 2e5iπ∕4 T ,
the propagation and geometric phases within a singular compo- respectively. Figure 5(c) depicts the SEM images of fabricated
nent. By simultaneously adjusting the size and orientation of sample. Figures 5(g)–5(i) illustrate the featured images through
the birefringent nanostructure, it becomes possible to impart de- the adjustment of voltages applied to the MZI and the phase
sired phases onto the orthogonal polarization states. To design shifter. The formation of Bessel beams in different directions
the nanostructure with the desired Jones matrix, we built a (5 deg) of the scattered light is clearly shown, and these
phase-amplitude response library with regard to the rectangular adjustments align with the calculation results displayed in
nanostructure dimensions on slab waveguide using full-wave Figs. 5(d)–5(f), considering the corresponding polarizations.

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Fig. 5 (a) The simulated intensity and (b) phase of the scattered light when the rectangular nano-
structure’s length and width vary from 100 to 500 nm. (c) SEM image of the fabricated metasurface
for Bessel beams. (d)–(f) Calculated results of switchable Bessel beams under different local
polarization states depicted in the figures. (g)–(i) The corresponding experimental results by ad-
justing voltages applied to the electrodes, respectively. (j)–(l) The corresponding cross-sectional
images along the white dashed lines in (g)–(i), respectively.

Figures 5(j)–5(l) show the recorded lateral images along the addition to LNOI, such as carrier depletion, enabling increased
white dashed lines in Figs. 5(g)–5(i), respectively. The inte- levels of integration and compatibility with CMOS technology.
grated generation of switchable nondiffracting Bessel beams The out-of-plane extraction efficiency of the integrated metasur-
with arbitrary polarization states demonstrates the feasibility face in our device can reach 11% with numerical simulation,
of our method for achieving switchable functionalities in any which can be further improved by optimizing the geometric
arbitrary polarization state. Moreover, it introduces exciting parameters of the metasurfaces and the waveguide50,55 (section
new prospects for applications involving special beam charac- 8 in the Supplementary Material). These factors expand the
teristics. applicability across a wide range of fields and applications.
We have demonstrated the capability of wavefront shaping
and switching upon any orthogonal polarization states. Indeed,
this high-speed switchable scheme could also be extended to 3 Conclusion
nonorthogonal polarization states as well. By incorporating We have proposed and demonstrated an integrated electro-
complex unit cell, interleave design, as well as artificial intelli- optical platform with PIC-driven metasurface on LNOI. By
gence, the traditional limitation of two independent orthogonal integrating an electrically controlled MZI and a phase shifter,
channels could be broken, enabling the realization of more we constructed a focusing beam with high-speed adjustable
polarization-determined and switchable channels.9 This strategy polarizations across almost the entire surface of the Poincaré
not only enables the generation of specialized optical beams sphere. Based on the reconfigurable polarizations across the
but also facilitates the implementation of various switchable waveguide, switchable focusing beams with lateral focal posi-
and complex functionalities. In addition to generate switchable tions and focal lengths, OAM beams and Bessel beams were
wavefronts in uniform polarization states, the PIC-driven demonstrated. Our approach opens up possibilities for achieving
metasurface exhibits the potential to produce complex vector more switchable functionalities with complex polarizations. The
wavefronts. Furthermore, this approach can also utilize alterna- modulation bandwidth is measured to be 1.4 GHz and it has
tive high-speed modulation PIC platforms and mechanisms, in the potential to be improved to hundreds of gigahertz based on

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the electro-optical effect of LN. The demonstrated high-speed 14. F. Yesilkoy et al., “Ultrasensitive hyperspectral imaging and bio-
switchable PIC-driven metasurface provides a promising plat- detection enabled by dielectric metasurfaces,” Nat. Photonics 13,
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The authors declare no conflicts of interest. 18. J. Park et al., “All-solid-state spatial light modulator with indepen-
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Structural parameters and simulated and experimental data have tunable dielectric metasurfaces,” ACS Photonics 5, 1742–1748
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This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of metasurfaces of lithium niobate,” ACS Photonics 8, 3004–3009
(2021).
China (Grant No. 2019YFA0705000), the National Natural Sci-
23. E. A. Rank et al., “Toward optical coherence tomography on a
ence Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 12192251, 12274134, chip: in vivo three-dimensional human retinal imaging using pho-
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mission of Shanghai Municipality (Grant No. 21DZ1101500), Sci. Appl. 10, 6 (2021).
the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (Grant 24. J. C. Norman et al., “Perspective: the future of quantum dot
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(2022). China Normal University. His research interest is nanophotonics, and
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46. Z. Xie et al., “Ultra-broadband on-chip twisted light emitter for Normal University, with a main research focus on photonic neural net-
optical communications,” Light Sci. Appl. 7, 18001 (2018). works for large-scale lithium niobate photonic integrated chips.
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University, Jiangsu, China, in 2021. He is currently a PhD candidate
orbital angular momentum generator with 3.6 × 3.6 μm2 foot-
at the College of Engineering and Applied Science, Nanjing University,
print,” Sci. Adv. 5, eaau9593 (2019).
Jiangsu, China. His research mainly focuses on the design and fabrica-
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Lin Li is a professor in the State Key Laboratory of Precision
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51. J. Kim et al., “Tunable metasurfaces towards versatile metalenses Spectroscopy, East China Normal University. He received his PhD from
and metaholograms: a review,” Adv. Photonics 4, 024001 (2022). Nanjing University in 2014. His research interests include nanophotonics,
integrated photonics, and quantum optics.
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with diffraction-limited performance,” Nat. Commun. 12, 1225
(2021). Tao Li is a professor in the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences
53. J. B. Mueller et al., “Metasurface polarization optics: independent at Nanjing University. He received his PhD from Nanjing University in
phase control of arbitrary orthogonal states of polarization,” Phys. 2005. His research interests include metamaterials, plasmonics, and
Rev. Lett. 118, 113901 (2017). nanophotonic integrations.
54. A. M. Yao and M. J. Padgett, “Orbital angular momentum: origins,
behavior and applications,” Adv. Opt. Photonics 3, 161–204 (2011). Biographies of the other authors are not available.

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