The visual appearances of disordered optical metasurfaces

Area of Science:

• Optics and Photonics
• Materials Science
• Computer Graphics

Background:

• Nanostructured materials are key for material appearance design, primarily through structural color via wave interference.
• Existing research often overlooks crucial visual aspects like reflectance properties, object shape, and lighting conditions.
• Disordered optical metasurfaces offer a novel pathway to control visual appearance beyond traditional methods.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the potential of disordered optical metasurfaces for comprehensive visual appearance design.
• To develop a multiscale modeling platform for predicting the appearance of metasurface-covered objects.
• To demonstrate the creation of unusual visual effects by manipulating light at nanoscale and mesoscale.

Main Methods:

• Development of a multiscale modeling platform for predictive rendering.
• Simulation of light interaction with disordered optical metasurfaces.
• Spectral and angular shaping of reflected light using nanoscale resonances and mesoscale interferences.
• Validation using realistic synthetic images of macroscopic objects and centimeter-scale samples.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated that disordered optical metasurfaces can spectrally and angularly shape reflected light.
• Showcased the ability to create unusual visual effects at the macroscale through controlled light manipulation.
• Validated the multiscale modeling platform with visually realistic synthetic images.
• Confirmed that effects are observable with the naked eye on centimeter-scale samples.

Conclusions:

• Disordered optical metasurfaces provide a powerful tool for harnessing and designing visual appearance.
• The developed multiscale modeling framework enables predictive rendering for complex visual effects.
• This approach opens new avenues for applications in visual arts and material design.