Dynamically reconfigurable holograms with electronically erasable programmable intermediate layers

An electronically programmable and erasable negative index material crossbar comprising:

• a first layer of approximately parallel nanowires, each nanowire having substantially regularly spaced fingers;
• a second layer of approximately parallel nanowires that overlay the nanowires in the first layer, each nanowire having substantially regularly spaced fingers, wherein the nanowires in the first layer are approximately perpendicular in orientation to the nanowires in the second layer;
• and
• resonant elements at nanowire intersections, each resonant element including two fingers of a nanowire in the first layer, two fingers of a nanowire in the second layer, and an intermediate layer sandwiched between the nanowire in the first layer and the nanowire in the second layer, wherein a refractive index of a first one of the resonant elements is to be controlled by a change in charge density within the intermediate layer, wherein the intermediate layer further comprises:
• a first dielectric insulation layer disposed adjacent to a nanowire in the first layer of nanowires;
• a second dielectric insulation layer disposed adjacent to a nanowire in the second layer of nanowires and having a relatively larger thickness than the first dielectric insulation layer;
• and
• a floating gate sandwiched between the first dielectric insulation layer and the second dielectric insulation layer.

A dynamically reconfigurable hologram comprising:

• a phase-control layer comprising a two-dimensional array of phase-modulation pixels, the phase-control layer comprising a negative index material crossbar comprising:
• a first layer of approximately parallel nanowires, each nanowire having substantially regularly spaced fingers;
• a second layer of approximately parallel nanowires that overlay the nanowires in the first layer, each nanowire having substantially regularly spaced fingers, wherein the nanowires in the first layer are approximately perpendicular in orientation to the nanowires in the second layer;
• and
• resonant elements at nanowire intersections, each resonant element including two fingers of a nanowire in the first layer, two fingers of a nanowire in the second layer, and an intermediate layer sandwiched between the nanowire in the first layer and the nanowire in the second layer, wherein a refractive index of a first one of the resonant elements is to be controlled by a change in charge density within the intermediate layer;
• and
• an intensity-control layer including a two-dimensional array of intensity-control pixels, wherein one or more three-dimensional motion pictures are to be produced by electronically addressing the individual phase-modulation pixels and intensity-control pixels in order to phase shift and control an intensity of light emanating from the pixels of the hologram.

A system for generating a three-dimensional image comprising:

• a computer including a processor and memory;
• a dynamically reconfigurable hologram coupled to the computer, the dynamically reconfigurable hologram comprising:
• a first layer of approximately parallel nanowires, each nanowire having substantially regularly spaced fingers;
• a second layer of approximately parallel nanowires that overlay the nanowires in the first layer, each nanowire having substantially regularly spaced fingers, wherein the nanowires in the first layer are approximately perpendicular in orientation to the nanowires in the second layer;
• and
• resonant elements at nanowire intersections, each resonant element including two fingers of a nanowire in the first layer, two fingers of a nanowire in the second layer, and an intermediate layer sandwiched between the nanowire in the first layer and the nanowire in the second layer, wherein a refractive index of a first one of the resonant elements is to be controlled by a change in charge density within the intermediate layer;
• and
• a light source positioned to emit quasimonochromatic light into the hologram, wherein data representing one of more images is stored in the memory and the processor is to execute a computer program to display the image data as one or more three-dimensional images by selectively electronically addressing at least some phase-modulation pixels and at least some intensity-control pixels to phase shift and control the intensity of light emanating from the hologram.

An apparatus comprising:

• first nanowires, each of the first nanowires having protuberances along a length thereof;
• second nanowires arranged approximately perpendicular to the first nanowires, the protuberances of the first nanowires being approximately parallel to corresponding ones of the second nanowires;
• and
• a layer disposed between the first and second nanowires, the layer to control refractive indices at nanowire intersections at intersecting ones of the first and second nanowires.