Advanced modelling of liquid crystal metasurface devices for miniature spectrometers

Liquid crystal metasurface (LCM) is a promising way to achieve a tunable metasurface due to its large tunability, fast response, and excellent cycling endurance. Accurate simulation of LCM's optical response is critical to its proper function. However, this is a unique challenge as existing methods used to simulate the optical responses of conventional liquid crystal (LC) devices often ignore the LC molecules' behavior at the interface with the metasurface substrates, which is the key for LCM devices. This work established a simulation model that covered the optical properties of the metasurface substrate, the LC molecules, and the interaction between them. It had been demonstrated that the results of this simulation model agreed well with the experimental results. Key factors that impact the accuracy of the simulation have also been identified. The insights gained from this work deepen our understanding of LCM devices and provide a useful tool for future design.