The development of classical and quantum information–processing technology calls for on-chip integrated sources of structured light. Although integrated vortex microlasers have been previously demonstrated, they remain static and possess relatively high lasing thresholds, making them unsuitable for high-speed optical communication and computing. We introduce perovskite-based vortex microlasers and demonstrate their application to ultrafast all-optical switching at room temperature. By exploiting both mode symmetry and far-field properties, we reveal that the vortex beam lasing can be switched to linearly polarized beam lasing, or vice versa, with switching times of 1 to 1.5 picoseconds and energy consumption that is orders of magnitude lower than in previously demonstrated all-optical switching. Our results provide an approach that breaks the long-standing trade-off between low energy consumption and high-speed nanophotonics, introducing vortex microlasers that are switchable at terahertz frequencies.

Meta-holographic encryption is a potentially important technique for information security. Despite rapid progresses in multi-tasked meta-holograms, the number of information channels available in metasurfaces is limited, making meta-holographic encryption vulnerable to some attacking algorithms. Herein, we demonstrate a re-programmable metasurface that can produce arbitrary holographic images for optical encryption. The encrypted information is divided into two matrices. These two matrices are imposed to the incident light and the metasurface, respectively. While the all-dielectric metasurface is static, the phase matrix of incident light provides additional degrees of freedom to precisely control the eventual functions at will. With a single Si metasurface, arbitrary holographic images and videos have been transported and decrypted. We hope that this work paves a more promising way to optical information encryption and authentication.

Lead halide perovskite microlasers have been very promising for versatile optoelectronic applications. However, most perovskite microlasers are linearly polarized with uniform wavefront. The structured laser beams carrying orbital angular momentum have rarely been studied and the applications of perovskites in next-generation optical communications are thus hindered. Herein, we experimentally demonstrate the perovskite vortex microlasers with highly directional outputs and well−controlled topological charges. High quality gratings have been experimentally fabricated in perovskite film and the subsequent vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) with divergent angles of 3o are achieved. With the control of Archimedean spiral gratings, the wavefront of the perovskite VCSELs has been switched to be helical with topological charges of q = −4 to 4. This research is able to expand the potential applications of perovskite microlasers in hybrid integrated photonic networks, as well as optical computing.