Breaking the Diffraction-Encoding Limit for High-Capacity Meta-Holography via Multiorder Decoupling

Area of Science:

• Nanophotonics and Metasurface Technology
• Holography and Optical Engineering

Background:

• Metasurfaces offer precise optical wavefront control via nanostructures, advancing meta-holography.
• Existing methods are limited to single diffraction orders and small fields-of-view (FoV) due to lattice period constraints.
• These limitations hinder large-area, low-cost applications and data capacity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel multidiffraction-order decoupling scheme for metasurfaces.
• To overcome the limitations of single-order diffraction and expand holographic capabilities.
• To enable large FoV and high information capacity in meta-holography.

Main Methods:

• Developed a single-cell metasurface design.
• Implemented a multidiffraction-order decoupling scheme to separate phase correlations.
• Utilized relaxed lattice periods (greater than four times the wavelength).

Main Results:

• Achieved 23 encoded holographic channels from a single-cell metasurface.
• Demonstrated a holo-display with an unprecedented FoV of up to 168°.
• Expanded encodable holographic space by an order of magnitude.

Conclusions:

• The multidiffraction-order decoupling scheme breaks the conventional diffraction-encoding limit.
• This approach reduces fabrication complexity and accuracy demands, enabling large-area fabrication.
• Paves the way for large-FoV optical displays, high-capacity holographic storage/encryption, and scalable photonic systems.