Article | 2026-07-13
Polarization-Addressable Singular Jones Metasurfaces
By
PIER Photonics, Vol. 1, 3-9, 2026
Abstract
Singular optics are commonly explored through scalar or vectorial singularities, whereas matrix-level singularities remain far less developed for wave manipulations. Here, we experimentally demonstrate polarization-addressable singular Jones metasurfaces using reflective plasmonic nanostructures. By engineering polarization conversion in the reflection subspace, the Jones matrix can be driven to a singular condition, mapping an incident polarization eigenstate to a vectorial zero output. The corresponding eigen-polarization can be addressed across the Poincaré sphere by tailoring meta-atom geometries. Encircling the singularity in a two-dimensional parameter space can yield a full 2π topological phase winding, enabling dual-channel meta-holography and vortex generation. Extreme coupling breaking further produces circularly polarized zero-output eigenstates, revealing chiral Jones singularities. These results establish singular Jones metasurfaces as a compact platform for matrix-level singular optics, polarization-selective extinction, topological wavefront shaping, and chiral light-matter interactions.
Supplementary Information
Citation
Haoye Qin, Zijin Yang, Xinyang Mu, Wenjing Lv, Jue Li, Yuzhi Shi, Bo Li, Qinghua Song, and Cheng-Wei Qiu, "Polarization-Addressable Singular Jones Metasurfaces," PIER Photonics, Vol. 1, 3-9, 2026.
References

1. Gbur, Gregory J., Singular Optics, CRC Press, 2016.
doi:10.1201/9781315374260

2. Shen, Yijie, Haiwen Wang, and Shanhui Fan, "Free-space topological optical textures: Tutorial," Advances in Optics and Photonics, Vol. 17, No. 2, 295-374, 2025.
doi:10.1364/aop.547634        Google Scholar

3. He, Chao, Yijie Shen, and Andrew Forbes, "Towards higher-dimensional structured light," Light: Science & Applications, Vol. 11, No. 1, 205, 2022.
doi:10.1038/s41377-022-00897-3        Google Scholar

4. Song, Qinghua, Xingsi Liu, Cheng-Wei Qiu, and Patrice Genevet, "Vectorial metasurface holography," Applied Physics Reviews, Vol. 9, No. 1, 011311, 2022.
doi:10.1063/5.0078610        Google Scholar

5. Song, Q., M. Odeh, J. Zúñiga-Pérez, B. Kanté, and P. Genevet, "Plasmonic topological metasurface by encircling an exceptional point," Science, Vol. 373, No. 6559, 1133-1137, 2021.
doi:10.1126/science.abj3179        Google Scholar

6. Milione, Giovanni, H. I. Sztul, D. A. Nolan, and R. R. Alfano, "Higher-order Poincaré sphere, Stokes parameters, and the angular momentum of light," Physical Review Letters, Vol. 107, No. 5, 053601, 2011.
doi:10.1103/physrevlett.107.053601        Google Scholar

7. Naidoo, Darryl, Filippus S. Roux, Angela Dudley, Igor Litvin, Bruno Piccirillo, Lorenzo Marrucci, and Andrew Forbes, "Controlled generation of higher-order Poincaré sphere beams from a laser," Nature Photonics, Vol. 10, No. 5, 327-332, 2016.
doi:10.1038/nphoton.2016.37        Google Scholar

8. Ni, Jincheng, Can Huang, Lei-Ming Zhou, Min Gu, Qinghai Song, Yuri Kivshar, and Cheng-Wei Qiu, "Multidimensional phase singularities in nanophotonics," Science, Vol. 374, No. 6566, eabj0039, 2021.
doi:10.1126/science.abj0039        Google Scholar

9. Liu, Mengqi, Chen Zhao, Yixuan Zeng, Yang Chen, Changying Zhao, and Cheng-Wei Qiu, "Evolution and nonreciprocity of loss-induced topological phase singularity pairs," Physical Review Letters, Vol. 127, No. 26, 266101, 2021.
doi:10.1103/physrevlett.127.266101        Google Scholar

10. Qin, Haoye, Zijin Yang, Po-Sheng Huang, Xinyang Mu, Shih-Hsiu Huang, Yuzhi Shi, Wannian Zhao, Bo Li, Ji Zhou, Jesús Zúñiga-Pérez, Patrice Genevet, Pin Chieh Wu, and Qinghua Song, "Sphere of arbitrarily polarized exceptional points with a single planar metasurface," Nature Communications, Vol. 16, No. 1, 2656, 2025.
doi:10.1038/s41467-025-57737-2        Google Scholar

11. Qin, Haoye, Zengping Su, Zhe Zhang, Wenjing Lv, Zijin Yang, Weijin Chen, Xinyue Gao, Heng Wei, Yuzhi Shi, Bo Li, Ji Zhou, Romain Fleury, Cheng-Wei Qiu, and Qinghua Song, "Disorder-assisted real-momentum topological photonic crystal," Nature, Vol. 639, No. 8055, 602-608, 2025.
doi:10.1038/s41586-025-08632-9        Google Scholar

12. Li, Tianyue, Mengjiao Liu, Jiahao Hou, Xing Yang, Shubo Wang, Shuming Wang, Shining Zhu, Din Ping Tsai, and Zhenlin Wang, "Chip-scale metaphotonic singularities: Topological, dynamical, and practical aspects," Chip, Vol. 3, No. 4, 100109, 2024.
doi:10.1016/j.chip.2024.100109        Google Scholar

13. Yang, Zijin, Po-Sheng Huang, Yu-Tsung Lin, Haoye Qin, Jesús Zúñiga-Pérez, Yuzhi Shi, Zhanshan Wang, Xinbin Cheng, Man-Chung Tang, Sanyang Han, Boubacar Kanté, Bo Li, Pin Chieh Wu, Patrice Genevet, and Qinghua Song, "Creating pairs of exceptional points for arbitrary polarization control: Asymmetric vectorial wavefront modulation," Nature Communications, Vol. 15, No. 1, 232, 2024.
doi:10.1038/s41467-023-44428-z        Google Scholar

14. Kim, Dongha, Arthur Baucour, Yun-Seok Choi, Jonghwa Shin, and Min-Kyo Seo, "Spontaneous generation and active manipulation of real-space optical vortices," Nature, Vol. 611, No. 7934, 48-54, 2022.
doi:10.1038/s41586-022-05229-4        Google Scholar

15. Qin, Haoye, Zhe Zhang, Junda Wang, and Romain Fleury, "Topological hysteretic winding for temporal anti-lasing," Nature Communications, Vol. 16, No. 1, 6189, 2025.
doi:10.1038/s41467-025-61282-3        Google Scholar

16. Lv, Wenjing, Haoye Qin, Xiaodong Shi, Fulong Shi, Xinyang Mu, Zhou Zhou, Jiazheng Qin, Bo Li, Cheng-Wei Qiu, and Qinghua Song, "Local-nonlocal assisted multifunctional photonic crystals," Light: Science & Applications, Vol. 15, No. 1, 243, 2026.
doi:10.1038/s41377-026-02308-3        Google Scholar

17. Bliokh, Konstantin Y., Ebrahim Karimi, Miles J. Padgett, Miguel A. Alonso, Mark R. Dennis, Angela Dudley, Andrew Forbes, Sina Zahedpour, Scott W. Hancock, and Howard M. Milchberg, "Roadmap on structured waves," Journal of Optics, Vol. 25, No. 10, 103001, 2023.
doi:10.1088/2040-8986/acea92        Google Scholar

18. Dorrah, Ahmed H. and Federico Capasso, "Tunable structured light with flat optics," Science, Vol. 376, No. 6591, eabi6860, 2022.
doi:10.1126/science.abi6860        Google Scholar

19. Gao, Xinyue, Zhipeng Yu, Jing Yao, Xinyang Mu, Yuzhi Shi, Puxiang Lai, Bo Li, and Qinghua Song, "Discontinuous orbital angular momentum metasurface holography," Nature Communications, Vol. 16, No. 1, 10688, 2025.
doi:10.1038/s41467-025-65722-y        Google Scholar

20. Yang, Zijin, Po-Sheng Huang, Yu-Tsung Lin, Haoye Qin, Jiaxin Chen, Sanyang Han, Wei Huang, Zi-Lan Deng, Bo Li, Jesús Zúñiga-Pérez, Patrice Genevet, Pin Chieh Wu, and Qinghua Song, "Asymmetric full-color vectorial meta-holograms empowered by pairs of exceptional points," Nano Letters, Vol. 24, No. 3, 844-851, 2024.
doi:10.1021/acs.nanolett.3c03611        Google Scholar

21. Choi, Eunsue, Gyeongtae Kim, Jooyeong Yun, Yujin Jeon, Junsuk Rho, and Seung-Hwan Baek, "360° structured light with learned metasurfaces," Nature Photonics, Vol. 18, No. 8, 848-855, 2024.
doi:10.1038/s41566-024-01450-x        Google Scholar

22. Zhang, Xudong, Yilin Liu, Jiecai Han, Yuri Kivshar, and Qinghai Song, "Chiral emission from resonant metasurfaces," Science, Vol. 377, No. 6611, 1215-1218, 2022.
doi:10.1126/science.abq7870        Google Scholar

23. Chen, Yang, Huachun Deng, Xinbo Sha, Weijin Chen, Ruize Wang, Yu-Hang Chen, Dong Wu, Jiaru Chu, Yuri S. Kivshar, Shumin Xiao, and Cheng-Wei Qiu, "Observation of intrinsic chiral bound states in the continuum," Nature, Vol. 613, No. 7944, 474-478, 2023.
doi:10.1038/s41586-022-05467-6        Google Scholar

24. Duan, Xiaoyang, Bo Wang, Kexiu Rong, Chieh-li Liu, Vladi Gorovoy, Subhrajit Mukherjee, Vladimir Kleiner, Elad Koren, and Erez Hasman, "Valley-addressable monolayer lasing through spin-controlled Berry phase photonic cavities," Science, Vol. 381, No. 6665, 1429-1432, 2023.
doi:10.1126/science.adi7196        Google Scholar

25. Guo, Cheng, Jiazheng Li, Meng Xiao, and Shanhui Fan, "Singular topology of scattering matrices," Physical Review B, Vol. 108, No. 15, 155418, 2023.
doi:10.1103/physrevb.108.155418        Google Scholar

26. Baranov, Denis G., Alex Krasnok, Timur Shegai, Andrea Alù, and Yidong Chong, "Coherent perfect absorbers: Linear control of light with light," Nature Reviews Materials, Vol. 2, No. 12, 1-14, 2017.
doi:10.1038/natrevmats.2017.64        Google Scholar

27. Pichler, Kevin, Matthias Kühmayer, Julian Böhm, Andre Brandstötter, Philipp Ambichl, Ulrich Kuhl, and Stefan Rotter, "Random anti-lasing through coherent perfect absorption in a disordered medium," Nature, Vol. 567, No. 7748, 351-355, 2019.
doi:10.1038/s41586-019-0971-3        Google Scholar

28. Hu, Hui, Chaobiao Zhou, Yukang Zhang, Meng-Xia Hu, Juntian Peng, Huawei Tang, Lujun Huang, Jianlong Liu, Chunying Guan, Zheng Zhu, et al. "Robust chirality via merging accidental BICs with net zero topological charge," eLight, Vol. 6, No. 1, 12, 2026.
doi:10.1186/s43593-026-00126-z        Google Scholar

29. Chong, Y. D., Li Ge, Hui Cao, and A. D. Stone, "Coherent perfect absorbers: Time-reversed lasers," Physical Review Letters, Vol. 105, No. 5, 053901, 2010.
doi:10.1103/physrevlett.105.053901        Google Scholar

30. Wan, Wenjie, Yidong Chong, Li Ge, Heeso Noh, A. Douglas Stone, and Hui Cao, "Time-reversed lasing and interferometric control of absorption," Science, Vol. 331, No. 6019, 889-892, 2011.
doi:10.1126/science.1200735        Google Scholar

31. Hörner, Helmut, Lena Wild, Yevgeny Slobodkin, Gil Weinberg, Ori Katz, and Stefan Rotter, "Coherent perfect absorption of arbitrary wavefronts at an exceptional point," Physical Review Letters, Vol. 133, No. 17, 173801, 2024.
doi:10.1103/physrevlett.133.173801        Google Scholar

32. Slobodkin, Yevgeny, Gil Weinberg, Helmut Hörner, Kevin Pichler, Stefan Rotter, and Ori Katz, "Massively degenerate coherent perfect absorber for arbitrary wavefronts," Science, Vol. 377, No. 6609, 995-998, 2022.
doi:10.1126/science.abq8103        Google Scholar

33. Galiffi, Emanuele, Anthony C. Harwood, Stefano Vezzoli, Romain Tirole, Andrea Alù, and Riccardo Sapienza, "Optical coherent perfect absorption and amplification in a time-varying medium," Nature Photonics, Vol. 20, 163-169, 2026.
doi:10.1038/s41566-025-01833-8        Google Scholar

34. Wang, Zi-Qi, Yi-Ming Sun, Yao-Dong Hu, Yi-Pu Wang, Rui-Chang Shen, Wei-Jiang Wu, and J. Q. You, "Enhancement of signal-to-noise ratio at a high-order exceptional point of coherent perfect absorption," Nature Communications, Vol. 17, No. 1, 3343, 2026.
doi:10.1038/s41467-026-69889-w        Google Scholar

35. Li, Jinxing, Aloke Jana, Yueyi Yuan, Kuang Zhang, Shah Nawaz Burokur, and Patrice Genevet, "Exploiting hidden singularity on the surface of the Poincaré sphere," Nature Communications, Vol. 16, No. 1, 5953, 2025.
doi:10.1038/s41467-025-60956-2        Google Scholar

36. Oh, Donghak, Soojeong Baek, Sangha Lee, Kyungmin Lee, Jagang Park, Zhaowei Liu, Teun-Teun Kim, and Bumki Min, "Complete asymmetric polarization conversion at zero-eigenvalue exceptional points of non-Hermitian metasurfaces," Nanophotonics, Vol. 13, No. 24, 4409-4416, 2024.
doi:10.1515/nanoph-2024-0391        Google Scholar

37. Kang, Ming, Ziying Zhang, Tong Wu, Xueqian Zhang, Quan Xu, Alex Krasnok, Jiaguang Han, and Andrea Alù, "Coherent full polarization control based on bound states in the continuum," Nature Communications, Vol. 13, No. 1, 4536, 2022.
doi:10.1038/s41467-022-31726-1        Google Scholar

38. Wang, Changqing, William R. Sweeney, A. Douglas Stone, and Lan Yang, "Coherent perfect absorption at an exceptional point," Science, Vol. 373, No. 6560, 1261-1265, 2021.
doi:10.1126/science.abj1028        Google Scholar

39. Yu, Nanfang, Patrice Genevet, Mikhail A. Kats, Francesco Aieta, Jean-Philippe Tetienne, Federico Capasso, and Zeno Gaburro, "Light propagation with phase discontinuities: Generalized laws of reflection and refraction," Science, Vol. 334, No. 6054, 333-337, 2011.
doi:10.1126/science.1210713        Google Scholar

40. Gu, Tian, Hyun Jung Kim, Clara Rivero-Baleine, and Juejun Hu, "Reconfigurable metasurfaces towards commercial success," Nature Photonics, Vol. 17, No. 1, 48-58, 2023.
doi:10.1038/s41566-022-01099-4        Google Scholar

41. Zhang, Zilong, Lingyu Kong, Lianghaoyue Zhang, Xiangyang Pan, Trishita Das, Benquan Wang, Baolei Liu, Fan Wang, Isaac Nape, Yijie Shen, and Andrew Forbes, "Structured light meets machine intelligence," eLight, Vol. 5, No. 1, 26, 2025.
doi:10.1186/s43593-025-00102-z        Google Scholar