Angle-Multiplexed 3D Photonic Superstructures with Multi-Directional Switchable Structural Color for Information Transformation, Storage, and Encryption

Creating photonic crystals that can integrate and switch between multiple structural color images will greatly advance their utility in dynamic information transformation, high-capacity storage, and advanced encryption, but has proven to be highly challenging. Here, it is reported that by programmably integrating newly developed 1D quasi-periodic folding structures into a 3D photonic crystal, the generated photonic superstructure exhibits distinctive optical effects that combine independently manipulatable specular and anisotropic diffuse reflections within a versatile protein-based platform, thus creating different optical channels for structural color imaging. The polymorphic transition of the protein format allows for the facile modulation of both folding patterns and photonic lattices and, therefore, the superstructure's spectral response within each channel. The capacity to manipulate the structural assembly of the superstructure enables the programmable encoding of multiple independent patterns into a single system, which can be decoded by the simple adjustment of lighting directions. The multifunctional utility of the photonic platform is demonstrated in information processing, showcasing its ability to achieve multimode transformation of information codes, multi-code high-capacity storage, and high-level numerical information encryption. The present strategy opens new pathways for achieving multichannel transformable imaging, thereby facilitating the development of emerging information conversion, storage, and encryption media using photonic crystals.