Generation and Manipulation of Perfect Vortex Beams via Metasurfaces

ABSTRACT Vortex beams carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) have garnered significant research interest due to their broad applications in areas such as optical communications and particle manipulation. However, progress in this field has been hindered by a fundamental constraint: the intrinsic coupling between topological charge and beam radius in conventional vortex beams. Perfect vortex beams (PVBs) offer a solution to this limitation by decoupling the topological charge from the radial extent of the beam. Moreover, metasurfaces—benefiting from their inherent integrability and flexibility—can employ various phase modulation mechanisms to replace traditional, bulky optical systems based on spiral phase plates, axicons, and Fourier lenses. This review outlines the fundamental principles for generating PVBs and categorizes different metasurface‐based approaches. It highlights a synergistic innovation strategy that integrates multidimensional light‐field control with device‐level miniaturization. Through precise design of subwavelength structures, metasurfaces not only contribute to the miniaturization and weight reduction of optical systems, but also exhibit exceptional capabilities in phase manipulation across a wide spectral range, from visible to terahertz frequencies.