A kirigami-based reconfigurable metasurface for selective electromagnetic transmission modulation

Abstract

Tunable three-dimensional (3D) electromagnetic metasurfaces are essential for achieving selective modulation of polarized waves, but they usually require complex designs and the use of smart materials, posing great implementation challenges. Here, we propose a novel kirigami-based reconfigurable electromagnetic metasurface, which consists of a kirigami-based deformable thin polyimide substrate and periodically arranged copper split-ring resonators. By simple stretch, the two-dimensional (2D) planar metasurface can be uniformly transformed into a 3D state, enabling it to effectively and selectively modulate linearly and circularly polarized waves. Experimental and numerical results reveal the mechanical deformation and transmission characteristics of the metasurface under applied strains. It is shown that the metasurface exhibits good selective transmission tunability while the resonant frequency remains basically unchanged for both transverse electric and transverse magnetic polarized waves. Furthermore, the selective tuning mechanism and the influence of geometrical parameters are also illustrated by the equivalent circuit analysis.