New research from the University of St Andrews is paving the way for advanced holographic technology that could transform smart devices, communication, gaming, and entertainment. In a study published in Light, Science and Application, researchers created a new optoelectronic device by combining Holographic Metasurfaces (HMs) with Organic Light-Emitting Diodes (OLEDs).
This new approach overcomes the main barriers that have prevented holograms from being used more widely. While holograms have traditionally been created using complex and expensive lasers, this method is simpler, more compact, and potentially cheaper to apply.
The technology behind the breakthrough
The innovation lies in the first-time use of two existing technologies together to create the basic building block of a holographic display.
- Organic Light-Emitting Diodes (OLEDs): These are the thin film devices widely used to create colored pixels in mobile phone and television displays. As flat, surface-emitting light sources, they are ideal candidates for miniaturized light-based platforms.
- Holographic Metasurfaces (HMs): These are thin, flat arrays of tiny structures called meta-atoms—roughly one-thousandth the width of a human hair—that are designed to manipulate the properties of light.
How the holographic display works
When light from an OLED passes through the holographic metasurface, each carefully shaped meta-atom acts as a pixel, slightly modifying the properties of the light beam. By exploiting the principle of light interference, these modifications allow the device to create a pre-designed, complex image on the other side.
“OLED displays normally need thousands of pixels to create a simple picture. This new approach allows a complete image to be projected from a single OLED pixel!”
Professor Graham Turnbull from the School of Physics and Astronomy explained the efficiency of the new method.
A step change for emerging applications
This breakthrough provides a clear path toward developing miniaturized and highly integrated metasurface displays. Until now, researchers could only create very simple shapes with OLEDs, which limited their practical use.
“Holographic metasurfaces are one of the most versatile material platforms to control light. With this work, we have removed one of the technological barriers that prevent the adoption of metamaterials in everyday applications.”
Andrea Di Falco, a professor in nano-photonics, noted that this development will “enable a step change in the architecture of holographic displays for emerging applications, for example, in virtual and augmented reality.”
