Surface plasmonic sensors have been widely used in biology, chemistry, and environment monitoring. These sensors exhibit extraordinary sensitivity based on surface plasmon resonance (SPR) or localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) effects, and they have found commercial applications. In this review, we present recent progress in the field of surface plasmonic sensors, mainly in the configurations of planar metastructures and optical-fiber waveguides. In the metastructure platform, the optical sensors based on LSPR, hyperbolic dispersion, Fano resonance, and two-dimensional (2D) materials integration are introduced. The optical-fiber sensors integrated with LSPR/SPR structures and 2D materials are summarized. We also introduce the recent advances in quantum plasmonic sensing beyond the classical shot noise limit. The challenges and opportunities in this field are discussed.

Optical microfibers (MF), as a connection between fiber optics and nanotechnology, can realize enhanced light-matter/environment interactions, which benefit for optical sensing applications. In this paper, we introduce the fundamental working mechanisms of MF-based optical sensors and review their recent progress and status. We also discuss the challenges and opportunities of the MF sensors and provide some clues for future work.

The real-time, in-line analysis of light polarization is critical in optical networks, currently suffering from complex systems with numerous bulky opto-electro-mechanical elements tandemly arranged along the optical path. Here, we design and fabricate a fiber-integrated polarimeter by vertically stacking three photodetection units based on six-layer van der Waals materials, including one bismuth selenide (Bi ₂ Se ₃ ) layer for power calibration, two twisted black phosphorus (BP) layers for polarization detection, and three hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) layers for encapsulation. The self-power-calibrated, self-driven, and unambiguous detection of both linearly polarized (LP) and circularly polarized (CP) light is realized by the broken symmetry–induced linear photogalvanic effects (LPGEs) and circular photogalvanic effects (CPGEs) in the two BP units. Moreover, the device enables single-pixel polarimetric imaging to acquire spatial polarization information. The ultracompact device structure, free from external optical and mechanical modules, may inspire the development of miniaturized optical and optoelectronic systems.

Programmable vanadium dioxide (VO₂) metasurface is proposed at THz frequencies. The insulating and metallic states of VO₂ can be switched via external electrical stimulation, resulting in the dynamical modulation of electromagnetic response. The voltages of different columns of the metasurface can be controlled by the field-programmable gate array, and thus the phase gradients are realized for THz beam steering. In 1-bit coding, we design periodic and nonperiodic 24 × 24 coding sequences, and achieve wide-angle beam scanning with the deflection angles from −60° to +60°. In 2-bit coding, we use two different meta-atoms to design 18 × 18 coding sequences. Compared with 1-bit coding, 2-bit coding has more degree of freedom to control the optical phase, and 3 dB diffraction efficiency is improved by generating a single deflection angle. The proposed programmable metasurfaces provide a promising platform for manipulating electromagnetic wave in 6G wireless communication.

The complete description of a continuous-wave light field includes its four fundamental properties: wavelength, polarization, phase and amplitude. However, the simultaneous measurement of a multi-dimensional light field of such four degrees of freedom is challenging in conventional optical systems requiring a cascade of dispersive and polarization elements. In this work, we demonstrate a disordered-photonics-assisted intelligent four-dimensional light field sensor. This is achieved by discovering that the speckle patterns, generated from light scattering in a disordered medium, are intrinsically sensitive to a high-dimension light field given their high structural degrees of freedom. Further, the multi-task-learning deep neural network is leveraged to process the single-shot light-field-encoded speckle images free from any prior knowledge of the complex disordered structures and realizes the high-accuracy recognition of full-Stokes vector, multiple orbital angular momentum (OAM), wavelength and power. The proof-of-concept study shows that the states space of four-dimensional light field spanning as high as 1680=4 (multiple-OAM) $$\times$$× 2 (OAM power spectra) $$\times$$× 15 (multiple-wavelength) $$\times$$× 14 (polarizations) can be well recognized with high accuracy in the chip-integrated sensor. Our work provides a novel paradigm for the design of optical sensors for high-dimension light fields, which can be widely applied in optical communication, holography, and imaging.

Whispering gallery mode (WGM) microcavities provide increasing opportunities for precision measurement due to their ultrahigh sensitivity, compact size, and fast response. However, the conventional WGM sensors rely on monitoring the changes of a single mode, and the abundant sensing information in WGM transmission spectra has not been fully utilized. Here, empowered by machine learning (ML), we propose and demonstrate an ergodic spectra sensing method in an optofluidic microcavity for high-precision pressure measurement. The developed ML method realizes the analysis of the full features of optical spectra. The prediction accuracy of 99.97% is obtained with the average error as low as 0.32 kPa in the pressure range of 100 kPa via the training and testing stages. We further achieve the real-time readout of arbitrary unknown pressure within the range of measurement, and a prediction accuracy of 99.51% is obtained. Moreover, we demonstrate that the ergodic spectra sensing accuracy is∼11.5%higher than that of simply extracting resonating modes’ wavelength. With the high sensitivity and prediction accuracy, this work opens up a new avenue for integrated intelligent optical sensing.