Multicolor 3D meta-holography by broadband plasmonic modulation

TLDR

Emerging metasurfaces enable holography with higher data capacity and polarization sensitivity, yet multicolor 3D meta‑hologram imaging remains unrealized. The study aims to reduce cross‑talk among colors in broadband meta‑holograms. Using off‑axis illumination, the authors design a single‑pixel plasmonic metasurface that eliminates color cross‑talk. The approach boosts data capacity, delivers a five‑fold higher SNR, enables a seven‑color hologram with a 1.39‑times larger gamut, and experimentally demonstrates a full‑color 3D image, paving the way for advanced data‑storage, security, and authentication devices.

Abstract

As nanofabrication technology progresses, the emerging metasurface has offered unique opportunities for holography, such as an increased data capacity and the realization of polarization-sensitive functionality. Multicolor three-dimensional (3D) meta-hologram imaging is one of the most pursued applications for meta-hologram not yet realized. How to reduce the cross-talk among different colors in broad bandwidth designs is a critical question. On the basis of the off-axis illumination method, we develop a novel way to overcome the cross-talk limitation and achieve multicolor meta-holography with a single type of plasmonic pixel. With this method, the usable data capacity can also be improved. It not only leads to a remarkable image quality, with a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) five times better than that of the previous meta-hologram designs, but also paves the way to new meta-hologram devices, which mark an advance in the field of meta-holography. For example, a seven-color meta-hologram can be fabricated with a color gamut 1.39 times larger than that of the red, green, and blue (RGB) design. For the first time, a full-color meta-holographic image in the 3D space is also experimentally demonstrated. Our approach to expanding the information capacity of the meta-hologram is unique, which extends broad applications in data storage, security, and authentication.