In this paper, we present visible-light metasurfaces made from zirconium dioxide (ZrO₂) and engineered to keep working under extreme thermal and chemical stress. Photonic metasurfaces usually depend on carefully controlled temperature and chemical conditions to perform well, which has largely confined them to the lab and kept them out of harsh real-world settings. We show that, by choosing a robust material platform, metasurfaces can be designed and fabricated to withstand these demanding conditions without losing performance. Through experimental characterization, we demonstrate that our ZrO₂ metasurfaces keep stable optical performance after exposure to severe heat and aggressive chemical environments. Our results provide a route towards metasurface optics that can be integrated into commercial systems where environmental resilience is essential. This work marks an important step towards bringing metasurface technology out of the lab and into real-world, demanding operational environments.
