Metasurface Holography for Optical Information Processing

Metasurface holography harnesses engineered ultrathin films patterned at subwavelength scales to modulate the amplitude, phase and polarisation of light with unprecedented precision. By encoding complex holographic information directly onto two-dimensional arrays of nanopillars or plasmonic elements, these flat optics overcome the bulk and complexity of traditional diffractive components. The rich degrees of freedom offered by metasurfaces—such as orbital and spin angular momentum, vectorial polarisation states and dynamic tuning—enable high-capacity data multiplexing, secure optical encryption, all-optical information processing and real-time image reconstruction. Advances in dielectric and hybrid metasurfaces now allow complete and independent control of wavefront parameters, while reprogrammable and liquid-crystal-integrated designs introduce fast, electrical or optical switching for adaptive holographic displays and cryptographic channels. The convergence of wavelength-scale engineering, multifunctional integration and system-level miniaturisation is driving a new generation of compact, high-throughput optical processors for communications, security, computing and imaging applications worldwide.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent studies have introduced vector visual cryptography using a meta-optics platform that exploits multiple light degrees of freedom and spatial dislocations as encryption keys. This approach integrates a decryption meta-camera to perform real-time reversal coding, achieving rapid imaging of hidden information without digital post-processing and markedly enhancing security against counterfeiting.

Foundational work on orbital angular momentum holography employed gallium nitride nanopillar arrays to achieve strong OAM selectivity and lensless reconstruction of multiple, distinct holographic images. By multiplexing OAM channels at the metasurface interface, this technique laid the groundwork for ultrahigh-capacity information devices and contributed a scalable route to OAM-based optical communications.

Metasurface Holography for Optical Information Processing publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in metasurface holography for optical information processing across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Metasurface: A planar assembly of subwavelength nanostructures designed to impart tailored phase, amplitude and polarisation changes to incident light.

Holography: A technique for recording and reconstructing both the amplitude and phase information of an optical wavefront to produce three-dimensional images.

Orbital angular momentum (OAM): A property of light beams having helical phase fronts, enabling data encoding in the spatial phase distribution.

Spin angular momentum (SAM): The intrinsic angular momentum associated with circular polarisation states of photons.

Vectorial holography: Holographic methods that encode and reconstruct spatially varying polarisation along with amplitude and phase.

Poincaré beam: A structured light field whose polarisation state varies across the beam profile, mapping onto the Poincaré sphere.

References

1. Vectorial liquid-crystal holography. eLight (2024).
2. High-dimensional Poincaré beams generated through cascaded metasurfaces for high-security optical encryption. PhotoniX (2024).
3. Angular momentum holography via a minimalist metasurface for optical nested encryption. Light: Science & Applications (2023).
4. Meta-optics empowered vector visual cryptography for high security and rapid decryption. Nature Communications (2023).
5. Metasurface orbital angular momentum holography. Nature Communications (2019).
6. Dielectric metasurfaces for complete and independent control of the optical amplitude and phase. Light: Science & Applications (2019).
7. Reprogrammable meta-hologram for optical encryption. Nature Communications (2020).