Spatial light modulator via optically addressed metasurface

Emerging demands for dynamic wavefront modulation in holographic displays, augmented/virtual reality, and light detection and ranging require spatial light modulators (SLMs) with high pixel density and fast refresh rates. However, key parameters of existing liquid-crystal and metasurface-based SLMs, such as spatiotemporal product density, field of view and refresh rate, remain far below application requirements. Here we report an optically addressed metasurface SLM composed of independently tunable meta-atom supercells with a 756 nm pitch. This device reduces SLM pixel size to the submicrometre scale while achieving a spatiotemporal product density of 2.3 × 10¹² pixels s^-1 cm^-2, thereby meeting the critical threshold for true holography. It enables real-time complex-amplitude holography, three-dimensional focusing and beam steering over a ±20.6° field of view in the visible spectrum.