Facile metagrating holograms with broadband and extreme angle tolerance

The emerging meta-holograms rely on arrays of intractable meta-atoms with various geometries and sizes for customized phase profiles that can precisely modulate the phase of a wavefront at an optimal incident angle for given wavelengths. The stringent and band-limited angle tolerance remains a fundamental obstacle for their practical application, in addition to high fabrication precision demands. Utilizing a different design principle, we determined that facile metagrating holograms based on extraordinary optical diffraction can allow the molding of arbitrary wavefronts with extreme angle tolerances (near-grazing incidence) in the visible–near-infrared regime. By modulating the displacements between uniformly sized meta-atoms rather than the geometrical parameters, the metagratings produce a robust detour phase profile that is irrespective of the wavelength or incident angle. The demonstration of high-fidelity meta-holograms and in-site polarization multiplexing significantly simplifies the metasurface design and lowers the fabrication demand, thereby opening new routes for flat optics with high performances and improved practicality. Metasurfaces: Wide-Angle Holograms The use of plasmonic metasurfaces has enabled the realization of broadband holograms that can operate at extreme angles approaching grazing incidence. Zi-Lan Deng and coworkers from Jinan University, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen University and Nankai University fabricated the holograms from an array of closely spaced, identical silver nanorods (90nm wide, 200nm long) on top of a silicon substrate coated with a thin layer of silver and then a layer of SiO2. The phenomenon of extraordinary optical diffraction allows highly efficient diffraction at very large angles and customizing the spacing of the nanorods allows the desired phase profile to be programmed, into the surface. The design, which operates in the visible and near-infrared range, may prove useful for various holographic applications including data encryption, anti-counterfeiting and 3D displays.