# Metamaterials, Nanophotonics & Integrated Photonics: State of the Field (October 2026)

Research dossier · v1 · updated 2026-10-30 · 3,632 words · 66 sources · 28 claims · verification: verified

Covers flat optics built from metasurfaces, high-Q and reconfigurable meta-optics, thin-film lithium niobate integrated photonics, and optical computing for AI workloads. The main takeaway is that metasurface optics have moved from single-function demonstrations toward visible and infrared imaging components, while integrated photonics is consolidating around thin-film lithium niobate, with heterogeneous and gain-integrated routes whose system-level benefits are still being measured.

## Contents

- Executive summary
- Background and core concepts
- Timeline of key milestones
- State of the art
  - Flat optics: metalenses, holograms and polarization control
  - Resonant and high-Q metasurfaces
  - Reconfigurable and time-varying metasurfaces
  - Thin-film lithium niobate photonics
  - Photonic computing and optical neural networks
  - Quantitative benchmarks
- Open problems and active debates
- Major programs and players
- Outlook: what to watch in the near term
- Key papers
- Glossary

## Sample findings

- A metasurface is a planar, subwavelength-structured layer that locally controls the amplitude, phase and polarization of light, and it can be patterned lithographically into thin optical components.
- Generalized laws of reflection and refraction describe how abrupt phase discontinuities at a surface redirect light, which is the design basis of phase-gradient metasurfaces.

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