Freestanding dielectric nanohole array metasurface for mid-infrared wavelength applications.

We designed and simulated freestanding dielectric optical metasurfaces based on arrays of etched nanoholes in a silicon membrane. We showed 2π phase control and high forward transmission at mid-infrared (mid-IR) wavelengths around 4.2 μm by tuning the dimensions of the holes. We also identified the mechanisms responsible for high forward scattering efficiency and showed that these conditions are connected with the well-known Kerker conditions already proposed for isolated scatterers. A beam deflector was designed and optimized through sequential particle swarm and gradient descent optimization to maximize transmission efficiency and reduce unwanted grating orders. Such freestanding silicon nanohole array metasurfaces are promising for the realization of silicon-based mid-IR optical elements.