Hi all,
I’m an independent engineer (background in SEM/TEM support, not fabrication) exploring a display-related concept and looking for some technical perspective from people in optics/photonics.
The idea I’m trying to understand is whether a thin layer placed over an emissive display could influence the phase or angular distribution of light from individual pixels in a way that meaningfully affects viewing direction.
I understand this runs into the incoherent light problem (random phase, limited direct phase control), and that simple diffraction structures (gratings, DOEs) mainly produce discrete angular redistribution rather than continuous wavefront shaping.
So I’m trying to better understand what would be a realistic path here.
A few specific questions:
- Is pixel-level phase modulation over an incoherent source (like an LED/OLED display) a realistic direction outside of LCOS/SLM-type systems?
- Are metasurface-type approaches the only viable path for true phase control at that scale, or are there simpler mechanisms that could produce meaningful angular control?
- Is there any practical way to get beyond discrete diffraction effects toward something closer to controllable directional emission from a surface?
I’m not trying to build anything yet—just trying to lock the physics and direction before going further.
If anyone has experience in display optics, metasurfaces, or wavefront shaping and is open to a short back-and-forth, I’d really appreciate it.
Thanks