Flat lens or metalens, as one of the most important application branches of metasurfaces, has recently been attracting significant research interest. Various reflective and transmissive metalenses have been demonstrated in the terathertz, infrared and visible wavelength range. However, metalens operating in the ultraviolet (UV) wavelength range is rare. Moreover, the development of reflective UV metalens, the important counterpart of transmissive ones, falls far behind. In this work, with thorough investigation of material properties, we propose a reflective metalens based on silicon dioxide (SiO₂) and aluminum (Al) that operates in the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) to visible wavelength region. Four reflective metalenses were designed and optimized for wavelengths of 193, 441, 532 and 633 nm, and prominent focusing capability was observed, especially for the VUV wavelength of 193 nm. Dispersion characteristics of the metalenses were also studied within ±50 nm of the design wavelength, and negative dispersion was found for all cases. In addition, the SiO₂ + Al platform can be, in principle, extended to the mid-infrared (IR) wavelength range. The reflective VUV metalens proposed in this work is expected to propel miniaturization and integration of UV optics.

The broadband perfect absorption of visible light is of great significance for solar cells and photodetectors. The realization of a two-dimensional broadband perfect absorber in the visible range poses a formidable challenge with regard to improving the integration of optical systems. In this paper, we numerically demonstrate a broadband perfect absorber in the visible range from 400 nm to 700 nm based on metasurface composite structures. Simulation results show that the average absorptance is ~95.7% due to the combination of the intrinsic absorption of the lossy metallic material (Au) and the coupling resonances of the multi-sized resonators. The proposed perfect absorber may find potential applications in photovoltaics and photodetection.

In this work, we systematically explore the third-order nonlinear optical properties of all-inorganic CsPbX₃ (X = Cl, Br, I) perovskite precursor solutions and thin films using femtosecond and nanosecond laser pulses. We show that these samples possess strong two-photon absorption (TPA) and reverse saturable absorption (RSA), which depend on the excitation wavelength. The obtained nonlinear absorption and refraction coefficients for precursor solutions are followed by the relation CsPbCl₃ > CsPbBr₃ > CsPbI₃ for the 800 and 1,064 nm excitation wavelengths, whereas this relation became reverse in the case of 355 and 400 nm laser pulses. It was shown that CsPbCl₃ thin film possesses RSA at 400 nm, CsPbCI₃ shows RSA+ saturable absorption (SA), and CsPbBr₃ demonstrates SA + RSA. In addition, at 800 nm excitation, the CsPbBr₃ thin films show SA + RSA at low peak intensity, and the absorption becomes reverse (TPA+SA) with a further increase in the input laser intensity. The suitability of nonlinear absorption depends on the band gap of the thin films with respect to the pumping photon energy. Our studies demonstrate that these perovskites can be used as the excellent materials for the all-optical signal processing.

In recent years, the phenomenon of optical second harmonic generation (SHG) has attracted significant attention as a pivotal nonlinear optical effect in research. Notably, in low-dimensional materials (LDMs), SHG detection has become an instrumental tool for elucidating nonlinear optical properties due to their pronounced second-order susceptibility and distinct electronic structure. This review offers an exhaustive overview of the generation process and experimental configurations for SHG in such materials. It underscores the latest advancements in harnessing SHG as a sensitive probe for investigating the nonlinear optical attributes of these materials, with a particular focus on its pivotal role in unveiling electronic structures, bandgap characteristics, and crystal symmetry. By analyzing SHG signals, researchers can glean invaluable insights into the microscopic properties of these materials. Furthermore, this paper delves into the applications of optical SHG in imaging and time-resolved experiments. Finally, future directions and challenges toward the improvement in the NLO in LDMs are discussed to provide an outlook in this rapidly developing field, offering crucial perspectives for the design and optimization of pertinent devices.

Reflective imaging systems such as Cassegrain-type telescopes are widely utilized in astronomical observations. However, curved mirrors in traditional Cassegrain telescopes unavoidably make the imaging system bulky and costly. Recent developments in the field of metasurfaces provide an alternative way to construct optical systems, possessing the potential to make the whole system flat, compact and lightweight. In this work, we propose a design for a miniaturized Cassegrain telescope by replacing the curved primary and secondary mirrors with flat and ultrathin metasurfaces. The meta-atoms, consisting of SiO₂ stripes on an Al film, provide high reflectance (>95%) and a complete phase coverage of 0~2π at the operational wavelength of 4 μm. The optical functionality of the metasurface Cassegrain telescope built with these meta-atoms was confirmed and studied with numerical simulations. Moreover, fabrication errors were mimicked by introducing random width errors to each meta-atom; their influence on the optical performance of the metasurface device was studied numerically. The concept of the metasurface Cassegrain telescope operating in the infrared wavelength range can be extended to terahertz (THz), microwave and even radio frequencies for real-world applications, where metasurfaces with a large aperture size are more easily obtained.

Platinum diselenide (PtSe ₂ ), a two‐dimensional material, has shown exceptional promise in photodetection applications because of its air stability, high carrier mobility, and layer‐tunable bandgap. However, conventional photoconductive modes face challenges with high dark currents. To address this limitation, all‐optical fiber detection technology with high sensitivity and response, has emerged as a promising approach for developing PtSe ₂ , based devices. In this study, a high‐sensitivity broadband photodetector based on PtSe ₂ with a cascaded Fabry–Pérot interferometer (FPI) is proposed, which utilises the broad spectral absorption property of PtSe ₂ and the interference enhancement mechanism of cascaded F–P cavities to achieve high‐sensitivity broadband photodetection. The experimental results show that the detector has excellent spectral response in the 808–1,550 nm band, with a sensitivity of 3.867 nm/mW at 980 nm and a response time of 37.43 ms/129.17 ms. The sensitivity at 1,550 nm is up to 134.014 nm/mW, with a response time of 75.74 ms/28.66 ms. The double matching of 0.8 eV energy and PtSe ₂ material, which is situated in the range of the material intrinsic absorption peak (1,200–1,600 nm), is responsible for the excellent sensitivity at 1,550 nm. It is also highly matched with the interband jump energy level, which generates more hot carriers per unit optical power and thereby increases the photothermal conversion efficiency. This study provides a new solution for the design of high‐sensitivity, ultra‐wideband optical fiber photodetectors, which has important potential applications in optical communications, environmental monitoring, and sensing.