Tunable metasurfaces via the humidity responsive swelling of single-step imprinted polyvinyl alcohol nanostructures

The application of hydrogels in nanophotonics has been restricted due to their low fabrication feasibility and refractive index. Nevertheless, their elasticity and strength are attractive properties for use in flexible, wearable-devices, and their swelling characteristics in response to the relative humidity highlight their potential for use in tunable nanophotonics. We investigate the use of nanostructured polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) using a one-step nanoimprinting technique for tunable and erasable optical security metasurfaces with multiplexed structural coloration and metaholography. The resolution of the PVA nanoimprinting reaches sub-100 nm, with aspect ratios approaching 10. In response to changes in the relative humidity, the PVA nanostructures swell by up to ~35.5%, providing precise wavefront manipulation of visible light. Here, we demonstrate various highly-secure multiplexed optical encryption metasurfaces to display, hide, or destroy encrypted information based on the relative humidity both irreversibly and reversibly.