Vectorial liquid-crystal holography

Abstract Vectorial optics with fine inhomogeneous polarization control are highly desired. Metasurfaces have been captivated a promising candidate, but their static post-fabrication geometry largely limits the dynamic tunability. Liquid crystal (LC) is usually employed as an additional index-changing layer together with metasurfaces. Unfortunately, most of the reported LCs only impart a varying but uniform phase on top of that from the metasurface, which we term “scalar” LC optics. Here, we pixelate a single-layer LC to display versatile and tunable vectorial holography, in which the polarization and amplitude could be arbitrarily and independently controlled at varying spatial positions. Furthermore, the subtle and vectorial LC-holography highlights the broadband and electrically-switchable functionalities. Our vectorial LC holography reveals significant opportunities for advanced cryptography, super-resolution imaging, and many other applications.