Micro- and nanostructures play a central role in modern photonic technologies by governing light-matter interactions, with broad applications in optics, photonics, biosensing, security labeling, and information storage. The fabrication and optical characterization of such structures remain challenging, as they typically require high-precision, specialized, and costly equipment. This research develops a unified, programmable optical framework both the fabrication and characterization of micro- and nanostructures using spatial light modulators. A digital micromirror device (DMD) enables the generation of arbitrarily tailored optical fields with high spatial precision for maskless microfabrication, where the light distribution directly determines the resulting structures. In parallel, a phase-only liquid-crystal spatial light modulator (LC-SLM) is used to impose designed phase profiles to generate structured light beams for optical metrology. This approach provides high flexibility, precision, and cost efficiency compared to conventional methods. The platform is applied to the fabrication of diffraction gratings, structural color elements, responsive optical sensors, and chiral assemblies. The chiral structures of interest are investigated using structured light carrying orbital angular momentum, revealing enantiomer-specific optical responses beyond conventional circular dichroism. Overall, this work highlights the potential of programmable light fields to simplify and unify the fabrication and optical analysis of advanced photonic structures, with applications in sensing, security, and photonic technologies.
Jing Xu (Thu,) studied this question.