Physicists and materials scientists have created a small optical device with vertically stacked metasurfaces to produce microscopic text and full-color holograms for encrypted data storage and color displays. A study team implemented a 3-D integrated metasurface device to make the optical device smaller. The study team designed optical elements by modifying the wavefront of light at the subwavelength scale using metasurfaces with ultrathin and compact properties. The metasurfaces greatly enhanced the remote optoelectronic systems’ ability to incorporate multiple functions.
The team presented a 3-D integrated metasurface device in the current work because existing research on multiplexing in the 2-D plane still needs to incorporate the multitasking capabilities of metasurfaces completely. They layered a hologram metasurface onto a monolithic Fabry-Pérot (FP) cavity-based color filter microarray to accomplish this. It allowed them to simultaneously perform full-color holography and microprinting functions that are highly effective, polarization-independent, and cross-talk-free.
The device’s dual purpose defined a new framework for information processing, security, encryption, color displays, and data recording applications. The development of flat, multitasking optical systems with a range of functional metasurface layers is possible by expanding the work on 3-D integration.
Metasurfaces open a new avenue in optoelectronics by enabling researchers to shape the wavefront of electromagnetic waves about the size, shape, and arrangement of structures at the subwavelength.
Related Content: Optical Probe Detects Various Brain Signals