While the potential impact of 3D holograms in medicine has been known for some time, researchers have faced obstacles in developing the technology to create Significant hurdle to widespread adoption.

Researchers at TMOS, the Australian Research Council Center of Excellence for Transformative Meta-Optics Systems, have used meta-optics to combine vertical nanowires with microring lasers made from semiconductor nanostructures, bringing the technology closer to reality.

For the first time in the world, TMOS researchers combined an InP microring laser cavity with a vertical InP nanowire antenna at its center and guided photons into free space with a specific beam shape, which is required for the development of 3D holograms. Microrings and nanowire cavities serving as light sources and antennas in the system, respectively, were grown simultaneously using selective area epitaxy.

The device is less than 5 microns in size and could eventually form a hologram pixel. The effectiveness of this coupling has been demonstrated in the laboratory, with details published today in Reviews of Lasers and Photonics.

Lead author Wei Wen Wong said: "This is a step towards low-power, on-chip microlasers with tunable emission directions. This new development removes one of the major obstacles to the realization of 3D holograms."