High-resolution multi-color printing relies upon pixelated optical nanostructures, which is crucial to promote color display by producing nonbleaching colors, yet requires simplicity in fabrication and dynamic switching. Antimony trisulfide (Sb₂S₃) is a newly rising chalcogenide material that possesses prompt and significant transition of its optical characteristics in the visible region between amorphous and crystalline phases, which holds the key to color-varying devices. Herein, we proposed a dynamically switchable color printing method using Sb₂S₃-based stepwise pixelated Fabry-Pérot (FP) cavities with various cavity lengths. The device was fabricated by employing a direct laser patterning that is a less time-consuming, more approachable, and low-cost technique. As switching the state of Sb₂S₃ between amorphous and crystalline, the multi-color of stepwise pixelated FP cavities can be actively changed. The color variation is due to the profound change in the refractive index of Sb₂S₃ over the visible spectrum during its phase transition. Moreover, we directly fabricated sub-50 nm nano-grating on ultrathin Sb₂S₃ laminate via microsphere 800-nm femtosecond laser irradiation in far field. The minimum feature size can be further decreased down to ~45 nm (λ/17) by varying the thickness of Sb₂S₃ film. Ultrafast switchable Sb₂S₃ photonic devices can take one step toward the next generation of inkless erasable papers or displays and enable information encryption, camouflaging surfaces, anticounterfeiting, etc. Importantly, our work explores the prospects of rapid and rewritable fabrication of periodic structures with nano-scale resolution and can serve as a guideline for further development of chalcogenide-based photonics components.

Creation of arbitrary features with high resolution is critically important in the fabrication of nano-optoelectronic devices. Here, sub-50 nm surface structuring is achieved directly on Sb₂S₃ thin films via microsphere femtosecond laser irradiation in far field. By varying laser fluence and scanning speed, nano-feature sizes can be flexibly tuned. Such small patterns are attributed to the co-effect of microsphere focusing, two-photons absorption, top threshold effect, and high-repetition-rate femtosecond laser-induced incubation effect. The minimum feature size can be reduced down to ~30 nm (λ/26) by manipulating film thickness. The fitting analysis between the ablation width and depth predicts that the feature size can be down to ~15 nm at the film thickness of ~10 nm. A nano-grating is fabricated, which demonstrates desirable beam diffraction performance. This nano-scale resolution would be highly attractive for next-generation laser nano-lithography in far field and in ambient air.

Meta optics-empowered vector visual cryptography at the abundant degrees of freedom of light and spatial dislocation can open an avenue for optical information security and anti-counterfeiting with a compact footprint and rapid decryption.

Holography, with the capability of recording and reconstructing wavefronts of light, has emerged as an ideal approach for future deep-immersive naked-eye display. However, the shortcomings (e.g., small field of view, twin imaging, multiple orders of diffraction) of traditional dynamic holographic devices bring many challenges to their practical applications. Metasurfaces, planar artificial materials composed of subwavelength unit cells, have shown great potential in light field manipulation, which is useful for overcoming these drawbacks. Here, we review recent progress in the field of dynamic metasurface holography, from realization methods to design strategies, mainly including typical research works on dynamic meta-holography based on tunable metasurfaces and multiplexed metasurfaces. Emerging applications of dynamic meta-holography have been found in 3D display, optical storage, optical encryption, and optical information processing, which may accelerate the development of light field manipulation and micro/nanofabrication with higher dimensions. A number of potential applications and possible development paths are also discussed at the end.

Bioinspired superhydrophobic surfaces have attracted many industrial and academic interests in recent years. Inspired by unique superhydrophobicity and anisotropic friction properties of snake scale surfaces, this study explores the feasibility to produce a bionic superhydrophobic stainless steel surface via laser precision engineering, which allows the realization of directional superhydrophobicity and dynamic control of its water transportation. Dynamic mechanism of water sliding on hierarchical snake scale structures is studied, which is the key to reproduce artificially bioinspired multifunctional materials with great potentials to be used for water harvesting, droplet manipulation, pipeline transportation, and vehicle acceleration.

In this work, we propose a novel approach to produce three-dimensional (3D) optical trapping with sub-wavelength size through an engineered microsphere, under linear polarization states of an incident light. The engineered microsphere is designed to contain the segmented regions of diffractive patterns and made by focused ion beam fabrication. We simulate and experimentally characterize the focus performance of the engineered microsphere. The emitted light field from the exit surface of the engineered microsphere forms a pair of axially arranged focused beams, and they are connected with a continuous optical field embracing a 3D optical null at the center, forming the so-called optical bottle beam. Experimental results and numerical simulation are in good agreement. Such micro-optics can be used for precise and localized optical trapping.