Generation of pure longitudinal magnetization focal spot with a triplex metalens.

A pure longitudinal magnetization focal spot is greatly desired by all-optical magnetic recording. In this Letter, a triplex metalens is proposed and demonstrated to possess triple functions of an azimuthal polarization converter, a helical phase plate, and a focusing lens. The three-in-one combination enables conversion of linearly polarized incident light to the first-order azimuthally polarized vortex beam and focusing into a diffraction-limited spot. The state of polarization of the focal spot is measured to be pure circular polarization implying that a pure longitudinal magnetization field can be induced by the inverse Faraday effect. The lateral full width at half-maximum of the focal spot is 1.9 µm, and the experimental conversion efficiency of the metasurface is about 19.3%.