Application of metasurface in future displays

Optical metasurfaces, as a booming research field, have provided new methods for modulating the amplitude, phase, and polarization of light through artificial birefringent structures or structural resonances. It has been used to design planar optical components such as ultra-thin lenses, ultra-wideband achromatic lenses, and orbital angular momentum (OAM) generators. However, existing surveys typically examine either metasurface fundamentals or a single display modality, leaving no comprehensive roadmap that connects meta-atom design to full-device performance, hereafter, the term meta-atom are denoted to be an individual sub-wavelength building block of a metasurface. Here we present the first cross-scale review that quantitatively bridgices phase-dispersion engineering at the nanostructure level with system-level figures-of-merit across three mainstream 3D display paradigms, computer-generated holography, light-field projection, and near-eye/retinal displays. By critically benchmarking more than 150 demonstrations published between 2019 and 2025, we extract practical lookup charts that guide practitioners from material choice and meta-atom geometry to field-of-view, depth acuity, efficiency, and form-factor targets. Thanks to metasurfaces’ high integration density and functional diversity, its application in the light field display has attracted great interest. Metasurface can effectively improve the shortcomings of low spatial resolution, low diffraction efficiency, and narrow field of view common in traditional display components. In this paper, we first review the phase modulation method and structure resonance principle of metasurface. Then, we examine their application in the holographic display field and review the approaches for achieving structural-color printing. We summarize the 3D display methods of holographic display, light field display, and near-eye display and discuss how metasufaces enhance each modality. Finally, we distill emerging inflection points: AI assisted inverse design, dynamically tunable multifunctional platforms, and quantum or cascaded architectures into a looking forward commercialization roadmap that addresses the challenges still facing the 3D display industry.