Direct visualization of light's polarization and spectrum with a compass-like meta-device.

A compass-like meta-device with dihedral group (Dn) symmetry directly maps light’s polarization and spectrum onto azimuthal and radial positions, achieving 6.2° mean absolute angular error.

• Why it matters: Spectropolarimetric identification is needed for modern optical technologies, but conventional filter-and-polarizer approaches produce discrete, calibration-heavy outputs that require reconstruction.
• What they did: The authors engineered a polar-coordinates meta-device using dual-dimensional geometric engineering based on collective resonances, enabling single-shot spatial localization of resonant signatures.
• The result: It provides continuous linear-polarization orientation readout and continuous spectral coverage from 1450–1600 nm with ~6 nm visual spectral resolution, enabling intuitive on-chip multidimensional sensing and imaging.

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