Simultaneous Full-Color Printing and Holography Enabled by Centimeter-Scale Plasmonic Metasurfaces

Area of Science:

• Photonics and Nanotechnology
• Optics and Light Manipulation
• Materials Science

Background:

• Optical metasurfaces offer precise control over light properties like amplitude, phase, and polarization.
• Existing metasurface technologies have limitations in scale, information capacity, and cost-effectiveness for widespread applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a high-security platform using centimeter-scale plasmonic metasurfaces.
• To demonstrate enhanced information capacity and multifunctional capabilities within a single metamark.
• To enable cost-effective mass production for practical applications.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of centimeter-scale plasmonic metasurfaces.
• Encoding multiple independent information types using light's amplitude, phase, and polarization.
• Characterization of metamark performance under incoherent white light and coherent laser illumination.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated full-color, high-purity images with controlled hue, saturation, and brightness under white light.
• Achieved multiwavelength holograms under laser illumination, showcasing high information capacity.
• Confirmed suitability for mass production due to an extremely shallow functional layer.

Conclusions:

• The proposed centimeter-scale plasmonic metasurfaces offer a versatile platform for advanced optical applications.
• These metasurfaces provide a viable solution for high-security anticounterfeiting and information storage.
• The technology's scalability and cost-effectiveness pave the way for commercial adoption.