Nanoantenna induced liquid crystal alignment for high performance tunable metasurface

Liquid crystal (LC) based spatial light modulators (SLMs) are a type of versatile device capable of arbitrarily reconfiguring the wavefront of light. For current commercial LC-SLM devices, the large pixel size limits their application to diffractive optics and 3D holographic displays. Pixel miniaturization of these devices is challenging due to emerging inter-pixel crosstalk, ultimately linked to the thick LC layer necessary for full phase (or amplitude) control. Integration of metasurfaces, i.e., 2D arrangements of resonant nanoantennas, with thin LC has emerged as a promising platform to boost light modulation, enabling realization of sub-wavelength pixel size SLMs with full phase (or amplitude) control. In most devices realized so far, however, the presence of an alignment layer, necessary to induce a preferential initial LC orientation, increases the voltage requirement for resonance tuning and reduces the efficiency of light modulation, something that accentuates for an ultra-thin (e.g., submicron) metasurface-LC cell. Here, we present an alternative strategy by which the LC molecular alignment is purely controlled by the periodicity and geometry of the nanoantenna without any additional alignment layer. The nanoantennas are specifically designed for the double purpose of sustaining optical resonances that are used for light modulation and to, simultaneously, induce the required LC pre-alignment. The proposed device structure allows lower voltage and reduced switching times (sub-millisecond) compared to devices including the alignment layer. This novel strategy thus helps to improve the performance of these miniaturized-pixel devices, which have emerged as one of the potential candidates for the next generation of products in a wide range of applications, from virtual/augmented reality (VR/AR) and solid-state light detection and ranging (LiDAR), to 3D holographic displays and beyond.