An optical component, comprising: a liquid crystal, LC, plasmonic cell including a bottom electrode (110, 124) and a top electrode configured in a vertical electrode configuration, wherein the bottom electrode comprises a periodically-arrayed, nanostructured, polymer material layer coated with a continuous layer of a metal, forming a nanostructured plasmonic metasurface layer disposed on a top surface of a non-conductive substrate, wherein the vertical electrode configuration allows for the plasmonic metasurface layer to serve as an electrode, further comprising: a homogeneous LC-alignment layer disposed adjacent a bottom surface of the top electrode; a LC material layer configured to reorient itself in response to an electric field applied between the top electrode and the bottom electrode, having a birefringence, Δn, that is equal to or greater than 0.3, disposed in contact with the bottom electrode, wherein in an OFF-state, without an applied electric field, the LC material layer has a homogeneous orientation to the plasmonic surface; a voltage source coupled to the electrodes; wherein the continuous layer of the metal is formed of aluminum characterized by a plasmon resonance over the visible spectrum that does not promote homeotropic alignment of the LC molecules in the absence of an applied electric field, wherein the nanostructured, plasmonic metasurface layer has: an in-plane x-direction nanostructure period in the range from about 100 to about 500 nanometers; a perpendicular in-plane y-direction nanostructure period in the range from about 100 to about 500 nanometers; and a perpendicular to plane z-direction nanostructure height in the range from about 50 to about 200 nanometers, wherein the top electrode and the homogeneous LC-alignment layer are transparent over the visible spectrum and the nanostructured plasmonic metasurface layer is a voltage-tunable-color surface that is optically reflective over the visible spectrum, wherein the application of an electric field across the LC-alignment layer reorients the LC molecules at the surface of the plasmonic metasurface layer and changes the wavelength of the surface plasmon resonances, whereby the LC-plasmonic cell can reflect color across the visible spectrum. a homogeneous LC-alignment layer disposed adjacent a bottom surface of the top electrode; a LC material layer configured to reorient itself in response to an electric field applied between the top electrode and the bottom electrode, having a birefringence, Δn, that is equal to or greater than 0.3, disposed in contact with the bottom electrode, wherein in an OFF-state, without an applied electric field, the LC material layer has a homogeneous orientation to the plasmonic surface; a voltage source coupled to the electrodes; wherein the continuous layer of the metal is formed of aluminum characterized by a plasmon resonance over the visible spectrum that does not promote homeotropic alignment of the LC molecules in the absence of an applied electric field, wherein the nanostructured, plasmonic metasurface layer has: an in-plane x-direction nanostructure period in the range from about 100 to about 500 nanometers; a perpendicular in-plane y-direction nanostructure period in the range from about 100 to about 500 nanometers; and a perpendicular to plane z-direction nanostructure height in the range from about 50 to about 200 nanometers, an in-plane x-direction nanostructure period in the range from about 100 to about 500 nanometers; a perpendicular in-plane y-direction nanostructure period in the range from about 100 to about 500 nanometers; and a perpendicular to plane z-direction nanostructure height in the range from about 50 to about 200 nanometers, wherein the top electrode and the homogeneous LC-alignment layer are transparent over the visible spectrum and the nanostructured plasmonic metasurface layer is a voltage-tunable-color surface that is optically reflective over the visible spectrum, wherein the application of an electric field across the LC-alignment layer reorients the LC molecules at the surface of the plasmonic metasurface layer and changes the wavelength of the surface plasmon resonances, whereby the LC-plasmonic cell can reflect color across the visible spectrum.