A Magnetically Switchable Bifocal Metasurface
Abstract
Tunable flat optics are essential for advancing compact photonic devices. Here we show a numerical study of a reflective magneto-optical metasurface with a dynamically tunable focal length. The structure comprises bismuth iron garnet nanodisks in a Gires-Tournois resonator configuration. The magneto-optical properties of the garnet modulate the reflected phase response via an external magnetic field, allowing focusing at different focal lengths. Full-wave simulations demonstrate that the metasurface exhibits distinct focusing characteristics depending on the applied magnetic field direction for a fixed right circularly polarized incident wave at 1.550 {\mu}m. Specifically, switching the external field from +0.2 T to -0.2 T changes the focal length by a factor of approximately two (from 7.16 mm to 13.76 mm). These findings demonstrate that magneto-optical metasurfaces offer a flexible, viable approach for non-mechanical, tunable focusing in compact reflective optical components.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2604.27595,
title = {A Magnetically Switchable Bifocal Metasurface},
author = {Alberto Santonocito and Barbara Patrizi and Alessio Gabbani and Francesco Pineider and Guido Toci},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.27595},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
18 pages, 6 figures, 28 references Corresponding authors: FP and GT