The Nanophotonics & Emerging Application Laboratory (NEAL) at Wuhan University's Electronic Information School, led by Professor Li Zhongyang, has achieved a significant breakthrough in on-chip metasurface optics.

The team’s latest research, On-Chip Nonlocal Metasurface for Color Router: Conquering Efficiency-Loss from Spatial-Multiplexing, has been published in the journal Light: Science & Applications.

The team introduced an innovative on-chip nonlocal metasurface color router that utilizes the design of quasi-bound states in the continuum (q-BIC) modes with symmetry-breaking properties and achieved simultaneous modulation of outcoupling intensity and narrow-band spectral selectivity.

A key advantage of on-chip metasurfaces is their natural suitability for "horizontal cascading", enabling multi-wavelength channel multiplexing. This approach reduces energy efficiency losses compared to traditional optical routing schemes that rely on spatial multiplexing.

Guided light can be likened to water flowing through a pipe: multiple branches are arranged along the pipe, extracting only the necessary portions of light while enabling the remaining energy to continue, thus avoiding unnecessary waste from spatial multiplexing.

The proposed on-chip metasurface color router, with its potential for miniaturized integration, offers a new technological avenue for applications such as multiplexed information routing, intelligent integrated photonic systems, and next-generation wearable displays.