Disclosed herein is a nanoimprint lithography (ML) precursor material comprising a base resin component having a first refractive index ranging from 1.45 to 1.80, and a nanoparticles component having a second refractive index greater than the first refractive index of the base resin component. According to certain embodiments, further disclosed herein are a cured NIL material made by curing the NIL precursor material, a NIL grating comprising the cured NIL material, an optical component comprising the NIL grating, and methods for forming the NIL grating and the optical component using a NIL process.