Metasurface-based broadband hologram with high tolerance to fabrication errors

Demonstration of a multicolor metasurface holographic movie based on a cinematographic approach

This study uses a dielectric metasurface to demonstrates a multicolor holographic movie. Overlapping of multiple-wavelength images at 445 nm, 532 nm, and 633 nm was achieved by maintaining the ratio between the wavelengths and the pixel periods constant. Polarization-independent pillar waveguides made of single-crystal silicon are used as meta-atoms. A movie of the rotating earth was designed by the iterative Fourier transform algorithm and fabricated using electron beam lithography to a silicon-on-sapphire substrate. The multicolor movie consists of 20 frames was successfully reproduced at the maximum speed of 30 frames per second.

Meta-hologram enabled by a double-face copper-cladded metasurface based on reflection-transmission amplitude coding

Here, we propose a double-face copper-cladded meta-hologram that can efficiently manipulate the amplitude of electromagnetic waves in both transmission and reflection spaces, depending on the polarization state of the incident electromagnetic wave. The proposed meta-hologram is validated by encoding the transmission-reflection amplitude information of two independent images into a single metasurface. The holographic images obtained from measurements agree qualitatively with simulation results. The proposed metasurface presents a novel, to the best of our knowledge, scheme for electromagnetic wavefront control in the whole space and overcomes the limitations of narrow frequency band operation.

Design and Numerical Analysis of an Infrared Cassegrain Telescope Based on Reflective Metasurfaces

Reflective imaging systems such as Cassegrain-type telescopes are widely utilized in astronomical observations. However, curved mirrors in traditional Cassegrain telescopes unavoidably make the imaging system bulky and costly. Recent developments in the field of metasurfaces provide an alternative way to construct optical systems, possessing the potential to make the whole system flat, compact and lightweight. In this work, we propose a design for a miniaturized Cassegrain telescope by replacing the curved primary and secondary mirrors with flat and ultrathin metasurfaces. The meta-atoms, consisting of SiO₂ stripes on an Al film, provide high reflectance (>95%) and a complete phase coverage of 0~2π at the operational wavelength of 4 μm. The optical functionality of the metasurface Cassegrain telescope built with these meta-atoms was confirmed and studied with numerical simulations. Moreover, fabrication errors were mimicked by introducing random width errors to each meta-atom; their influence on the optical performance of the metasurface device was studied numerically. The concept of the metasurface Cassegrain telescope operating in the infrared wavelength range can be extended to terahertz (THz), microwave and even radio frequencies for real-world applications, where metasurfaces with a large aperture size are more easily obtained.

Metasurface Holography in the Microwave Regime

Hologram technology has attracted a great deal of interest in a wide range of optical fields owing to its potential use in future optical applications, such as holographic imaging and optical data storage. Although there have been considerable efforts to develop holographic technologies using conventional optics, critical issues still hinder their future development. A metasurface, as an emerging multifunctional device, can manipulate the phase, magnitude, polarization and resonance properties of electromagnetic fields within a sub-wavelength scale, opening up an alternative for a compact holographic structure and high imaging quality. In this review paper, we first introduce the development history of holographic imaging and metasurfaces, and demonstrate some applications of metasurface holography in the field of optics. We then summarize the latest developments in holographic imaging in the microwave regime. These functionalities include phase- and amplitude-based design, polarization multiplexing, wavelength multiplexing, spatial asymmetric propagation, and a reconfigurable mechanism. Finally, we conclude briefly on this rapidly developing research field and present some outlooks for the near future.

Metasurface holographic movie: a cinematographic approach

Animation for a metasurface hologram was achieved using a cinematographic approach. Time-lapsed images were reconstructed using sequentially arranged metasurface hologram frames. An Au rectangular nanoaperture was adopted as a meta-atom pixel and arrayed to reproduce the phase distribution based on the help of a Pancharatnam-Berry phase. We arrayed 48 hologram frames on a 2-cm² substrate and measured and assessed the retardation of fabricated meta-atoms to reconstruct the holographic image, successfully demonstrating the movie with a frame rate of 30 frames per second.

Polarization-independent broadband meta-holograms via polarization-dependent nanoholes

Composed of ultrathin metal or dielectric nanostructures, metasurfaces can manipulate the phase, amplitude and polarization of electromagnetic waves at a subwavelength scale, which is promising for flat optical devices. In general, metasurfaces composed of space-variant anisotropic units are sensitive to the incident polarization due to the inherent polarization dependent geometric phase. Here, we implement polarization-independent broadband metasurface holograms constructed by polarization-dependent anisotropic elliptical nanoholes by elaborate design of complex amplitude holograms. The fabricated meta-hologram exhibits a polarization insensitive feature with an acceptable image quality. We verify the feasibility of the design algorithm for three-dimensional (3D) meta-holograms with simulation and the feasibility for two-dimensional (2D) meta-holograms is experimentally demonstrated at a broadband wavelength range from 405 nm to 632.8 nm. The effective polarization-independent broadband complex wavefront control with anisotropic elliptical nanoholes proposed in this paper greatly promotes the practical applications of the metasurface in technologies associated with wavefront manipulation, such as flat lens, colorful holographic displays and optical storage.

Holographic Writing of Ink-Based Phase Conjugate Nanostructures via Laser Ablation

The optical phase conjugation (OPC) through photonic nanostructures in coherent optics involves the utilization of a nonlinear optical mechanism through real-time processing of electromagnetic fields. Their applications include spectroscopy, optical tomography, wavefront sensing, and imaging. The development of functional and personalized holographic devices in the visible and near-infrared spectrum can be improved by introducing cost-effective, rapid, and high-throughput fabrication techniques and low-cost recording media. Here, we develop flat and thin phase-conjugate nanostructures on low-cost ink coated glass substrates through a facile and flexible single pulsed nanosecond laser based reflection holography and a cornercube retroreflector (CCR). Fabricated one/two-dimensional (1D/2D) nanostructures exhibited far-field phase-conjugated patterns through wavefront reconstruction by means of diffraction. The optical phase conjugation property had correlation with the laser light (energy) and structural parameters (width, height and exposure angle) variation. The phase conjugated diffraction property from the recorded nanostructures was verified through spectral measurements, far-field diffraction experiments, and thermal imaging. Furthermore, a comparison between the conventional and phase-conjugated nanostructures showed two-fold increase in diffracted light intensity under monochromatic light illumination. It is anticipated that low-cost ink based holographic phase-conjugate nanostructures may have applications in flexible and printable displays, polarization-selective flat waveplates, and adaptive diffraction optics.

Wave manipulation with magnetically tunable metasurfaces

Tunable metasurfaces have emerged as an efficient approach to manipulate the wave propagation. Different from previous work concentrating on electrically tunable mechanisms, here we demonstrate a magnetically tunable metasurface composed of ferrite rods and metallic foils. By tuning the thickness of ferrite rods, metasurfaces with different rod thickness gradients are obtained. The incident wave can propagate through the metasurfaces due to the extraordinary transmission. The deflection angle of the transmission wave is not only influenced by the rod thickness gradient, but also tuned by the applied magnetic field. This approach opens a way for the design of tunable metasurfaces.

On-chip generation of broadband high-order Laguerre-Gaussian modes in a metasurface

With experimental results, we demonstrate the generation of high-order Laguerre-Gaussian modes with non-zero radial indices using a metal meta-surface, which is composed of a series of rectangle nanoholes with different orientation angles. The phase shift after transmission through the metasurface is determined by the orientation angle of the nanohole. This device works over a broad wavelength band ranging from 700 to 1000 nm. Moreover, we achieve a LG mode with a radial mode index of 10. Our results provide an integrated method to obtain high-order LG modes, which can be used to enhance the capacity in optical communication and manipulation.

Ultrahigh-capacity dynamic holographic displays via anisotropic nanoholes

For the miniaturization of optical holographic and data recording devices, large information capacity or data density is indispensable but difficult to obtain using traditional technologies. In this paper, an ultrahigh-capacity metasurface hologram is proposed by encoding information in deep-subwavelength scale nanohole arrays, which can be reconstructed via a light beam with proper designed incident angles. The imaging information capacity of the two-dimensional (2D) hologram, defined by the distortion-free region, can be increased 11.5 times, which is experimentally demonstrated by focused ion beam (FIB) milling of an ultrathin metallic film. We also prove the feasibility of a three-dimensional (3D) hologram of spiral lines designed by using the point source algorithm. Benefitting from the ultrahigh capacity of the deep-subwavelength metasurface, dynamic holographic displays can be realized by controlling the incident angle. The method proposed here can also be leveraged to achieve large capacity optical storage, colorful holographic displays, lithography technology etc.

Meta-holograms based on evanescent waves for encryption

A type of meta-hologram based on evanescent wave illumination and a metasurface is proposed.

Multicolor 3D meta-holography by broadband plasmonic modulation

As nanofabrication technology progresses, the emerging metasurface has offered unique opportunities for holography, such as an increased data capacity and the realization of polarization-sensitive functionality. Multicolor three-dimensional (3D) meta-hologram imaging is one of the most pursued applications for meta-hologram not yet realized. How to reduce the cross-talk among different colors in broad bandwidth designs is a critical question. On the basis of the off-axis illumination method, we develop a novel way to overcome the cross-talk limitation and achieve multicolor meta-holography with a single type of plasmonic pixel. With this method, the usable data capacity can also be improved. It not only leads to a remarkable image quality, with a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) five times better than that of the previous meta-hologram designs, but also paves the way to new meta-hologram devices, which mark an advance in the field of meta-holography. For example, a seven-color meta-hologram can be fabricated with a color gamut 1.39 times larger than that of the red, green, and blue (RGB) design. For the first time, a full-color meta-holographic image in the 3D space is also experimentally demonstrated. Our approach to expanding the information capacity of the meta-hologram is unique, which extends broad applications in data storage, security, and authentication.

Dielectric Huygens' Metasurface for High-Efficiency Hologram Operating in Transmission Mode

Conventional metasurface holograms relying on metal antennas for phase manipulation suffer from strong Ohmic loss and incomplete polarization conversion. The efficiency is limited to rather small values when operating in transmission mode. Here, we implement a high-efficiency transmissive metasurface hologram by leveraging the recently developed Huygens' metasurface to construct an electric and magnetic sheet with a transmission efficiency up to 86% and optical efficiency of 23.6%. The high-efficiency originates from the simultaneous excitations of the Mie-type electric and magnetic dipole resonances in the meta-atoms composed of silicon nanodisks. Our hologram shows high fidelity over a wide spectral range and promises to be an outstanding alternative for display applications.

Wavelength-selective orbital angular momentum generation based on a plasmonic metasurface

Nanoapertures with space-variant geometries are designed in a gold thin film to construct an ultrathin plasmonic metasurface, which has been demonstrated both numerically and experimentally to selectively generate and focus orbital angular momentum (OAM) beams with different topological charges at the wavelengths of 930 nm and 766 nm, respectively. Moreover, the interference patterns between the different circularly polarized transmission light were used to confirm the topological charges unambiguously. The agreement between the simulated and measured results suggests that the metasurface of wavelength-selective OAM modes may have potential applications in future optical communication systems.