Active Metasurface Research Articles

Evolution of the Electromagnetic Manipulation: From Tunable to Programmable and Intelligent Metasurfaces.

Looking back on the development of metamaterials in the past 20 years, metamaterials have gradually developed from three-dimensional complex electromagnetic structures to a two-dimensional metasurface with a low profile, during which a series of subversive achievements have been produced. The form of electromagnetic manipulation of the metasurface has evolved from passive to active tunable, programmable, and other dynamic and real-time controllable forms. In particular, the proposal of coding and programmable metasurfaces endows metasurfaces with new vitality. By describing metamaterials through binary code, the digital world and the physical world are connected, and the research of metasurfaces also steps into a new era of digitalization. However, the function switch of traditional programmable metamaterials cannot be achieved without human instruction and control. In order to achieve richer and more flexible function regulation and even higher level metasurface design, the intelligence of metamaterials is an important direction in its future development. In this paper, we review the development of tunable, programmable, and intelligent metasurfaces over the past 5 years, focusing on basic concepts, working principles, design methods, manufacturing, and experimental validation. Firstly, several manipulation modes of tunable metasurfaces are discussed; in particular, the metasurfaces based on temperature control, mechanical control, and electrical control are described in detail. It is demonstrated that the amplitude and phase responses can be flexibly manipulated by the tunable metasurfaces. Then, the concept, working principle, and design method of digital coding metasurfaces are briefly introduced. At the same time, we introduce the active programmable metasurfaces from the following aspects, such as structure, coding method, and three-dimensional far-field results, to show the excellent electromagnetic manipulation ability of programmable metasurfaces. Finally, the basic concepts and research status of intelligent metasurfaces are discussed in detail. Different from the previous programmable metamaterials, which must be controlled by human intervention, the new intelligent metamaterials control system will realize autonomous perception, autonomous decision-making, and even adaptive functional manipulation to a certain extent.

Electrically Driven Tunable Broadband Polarization States via Active Metasurfaces Based on Joule‐Heat‐Induced Phase Transition of Vanadium Dioxide

AbstractBroadband tuning of polarization states is pivotal yet challenging in modern photonics technologies, especially for miniaturized or integrated systems. Metasurfaces potentially provide an effective approach to resolve this challenge. However, once a metadevice is fabricated, its functionalities are determined, and it is hard to actively tune the polarization states. Here, the electrically tunable broadband polarization states by combining phase‐change material (vanadium dioxide) and dispersion‐free metasurface are demonstrated for the first time. The polarization states are modulated through the electrically driven, Joule‐heat‐induced phase transition of vanadium dioxide, where the output polarization state can be continuously tuned from horizontal one to vertical one, or from circular polarization to linear polarization. With accurate on‐chip control of the phase transition, continuous and reversible modulation of polarization is verified in a scanning display. Moreover, a proof‐of‐concept demonstration for dynamically independent control of multiple polarization display is carried out. Different images are produced by applying electrical currents in N separate channels to generate a dynamic multiplexing polarization display with 2N encoding states. Such an active metasurface can be readily integrated with electronics and has potential applications in display, encryption, camouflage, and information processing.

Lasing Action from Anapole Metasurfaces.

We study active dielectric metasurfaces composed of two-dimensional arrays of split-nanodisk resonators fabricated in InGaAsP membranes with embedded quantum wells. Depending on the geometric parameters, such split-nanodisk resonators can operate in the optical anapole regime originating from an overlap of the electric dipole and toroidal dipole Mie-resonant optical modes, thus supporting strongly localized fields and high-Q resonances. We demonstrate room-temperature lasing from the anapole lattices of engineered active metasurfaces with low threshold and high coherence.

Near‐Infrared Active Metasurface for Dynamic Polarization Conversion

AbstractControl of optical polarization is central to harnessing the properties of electromagnetic radiation for many applications, including 3D imaging and quantum computation. However, conventional optical polarizing components are typically bulky and static, that is, fixed in their degree of polarization control. Active metasurfaces have potential for versatile polarization control in a compact form factor by temporally modulating electromagnetic amplitudes and phase between orthogonal electric field components. Here, dynamic control of the polarization state of reflected light from an active metasurface is demonstrated. The metasurface uses indium tin oxide (ITO) as an active element in an array of aluminum nanoantennas operating in the telecom range. Applying an electrical bias between the ITO layer and the back reflector modulates the carrier concentration in ITO at the gate‐dielectric/ITO interface, resulting in complex refractive index modulation in the epsilon‐near‐zero condition. This index modulation alters the degree of excitation of plasmonic modes corresponding to the orthogonal polarization components, leading to polarization modulation. By suitably biasing the metasurface, linearly polarized incident light can be converted to cross‐polarized, circularly polarized or elliptically polarized light upon reflection. Dynamic control of the reflected polarization state has potentially wide applications in dynamic wave plates, spatial light modulators, and adaptive wavefront control.

All-Solid-State Optical Phased Arrays of Mid-Infrared Based Graphene-Metal Hybrid Metasurfaces.

Optical phased arrays (OPAs) are essential optical elements in applications that require the ability to manipulate the light-wavefront, such as beam focusing and light steering. To miniaturize the optical components, active metasurfaces, especially graphene metasurfaces, are used as competent alternatives. However, the metasurface cannot achieve strong resonance effect and phase control function in the mid-infrared region only relying on a single-layer graphene. Here we present a graphene-metal hybrid metasurface that can generate a specific phase or a continuous sweep in the range of a 275°-based single-layer graphene structure. A key feature of our design is that the phase adjustment mainly depends on the combination mechanism of resonance intensity and frequency modulation. An all-solid-state, electrically tunable, and reflective OPA is designed by applying the bias voltage to a different pixel metasurface. The simulation results show that the maximum deflection angle of the OPA can reach 42.716°, and the angular resolution can reach 0.62°. This design can be widely applied to mid-infrared imaging, optical sensing, and optical communication systems.

Automatic Inverse Design of High-Performance Beam-Steering Metasurfaces via Genetic-type Tree Optimization.

We introduce a genetic-type tree search (GTTS) algorithm combined with unsupervised clustering for the automatic inverse design of high-performance metasurfaces. With the proposed method, we realize highly directive beam-steering metasurfaces via the cooptimization of the amplitude and phase. In comparison with previous topology optimization approaches, the developed GTTS algorithm optimizes the organization of subwavelength nanoantennas and, thus, is applicable to the design of both passive and active metasurfaces. The optimized beam-steering metasurface specifically exhibits a nearly constant directivity when the steering angle varies from 5° to 30°. Furthermore, the optimized nonintuitive reflectance and phase profiles assist in achieving highly directive beam steering when the phase modulation range is <180°, which was previously challenging. Our approach can diminish the requirements of scattering light properties with substantially enhanced angular resolution of beam-steering metasurfaces, which enables the realization of high-performance metasurfaces that will be promising for a wide range of advanced nanophotonic applications.

Reconfigurable Multifunction Polarization Converter Integrated With PIN Diode

A novel reconfigurable polarization conversion method based on a metasurface turned by PIN diodes is proposed herein. The proposed metasurface consists of one layer of a dielectric and two layers of metal surfaces. When the diode is in an OFF-state, a wideband linear to circular (LTC) polarization converter is realized. The results show that the metasurface can achieve LTC polarization conversion in the frequency range of 11.8-24.1 GHz, and the axial ratio (AR) reveals that the 3-dB bandwidth is approximately 68.5%. When the diode is in the ON-state, a dual-band linear to linear (LTL) polarization converter is realized, with the 3-dB bandwidths of 10.5-13.9 GHz and 17.7-27.2 GHz, achieving a polarization converter ratio (PCR) greater than 90%. The dc bias circuit of the PIN diode is etched on the reflectance surface. Therefore, no additional feeding lines are introduced, which can decrease the impact on the active metasurface; this metasurface has practical applications in microwave communication systems.

Active polarization-independent plasmon-induced transparency metasurface with suppressed magnetic attenuation.

A tunable polarization-independent plasmon-induced transparency (PIT) metasurface based on connected half-ring and split-ring resonators is proposed to working in the terahertz band. We analyze the PIT effect in metasurfaces comprising of ring resonator and split ring resonator. Due to the magnetic attenuation caused by the reverse current between the two resonators, the relative position of the ring resonator and the split-ring resonator greatly affects the strength of the PIT effect. Magnetic attenuation weakens the dark mode of the split ring resonator. Through simulation and experiment, it is found that connecting the ring resonator and split-ring resonator can avoid magnetic attenuation and achieve a stronger PIT window. Furthermore, the fourfold rotation structure of the connected half-ring and split-ring resonator on silicon substrate achieves an optically controlled polarization-independent PIT effect. The design would provide significant guidance in multifunctional active devices, such as modulators and switches in terahertz communication.

Active near-infrared wavefront engineering employing geometric phase metasurfaces combined with phase-change materials

In recent years, with the remarkable development of micro–nano technology, phase change materials (PCMs) with superior tunable and nonvolatile functionality are integrated into metasurfaces, which has aroused huge interests among scientific communities. However, the imaginary part of refractive index of PCMs in the crystalline phase is large in the near-infrared region (NIR), leading to the strong absorption of device and limiting the development of the PCMs in the NIR. Here, we propose and investigate the hybrid metasurface with asymmetric double-split rings. We use PCM and silica (SiO2) as the composite dielectric layer, which can efficiently reduce the impact of the high imaginary part of the refractive index PCM in the crystalline phase. Moreover, metasurfaces with two types can obtain two different resonances. Furthermore, by inducing the phase change of the PCM, we can move the short-wavelength resonance peak to the position of another long-wavelength resonance peak. Meanwhile, we can add two sets of different phases to two different types of metasurfaces. Thus, the active metasurface based on the PCM can be used to achieve the active wavefront in the NIR. Hence, the proposed metasurface based on the PCM can be applied in tunable beam switching, reconfigurable holography, and other reconfigurable optical components in the NIR.

Agile design of cross-section enhancement of a conducting plate radar through active metasurface

The design concept of employing the dynamically reconfigurable scattering pattern to enhance radar cross-section is proposed and examined. In combination with varactor loading, a physical unit cell geometry with an embedded bias network for the varactors is utilized to build the metasurface. Biased by an applied direct-current source with voltage gradient, the proposed active metasurface can exhibit electrically tunable reflection phase distributions for either normal or oblique incidence plane wave, so as to achieve flexible redirection of the angle of reflection. As a result, the agile effect for monostatic or bistatic cross-section enhancement is then facilitated. Taking a conducting plate as an example, three different incidence and reflection scenarios are considered for calculation and full-wave simulation. Reconfigurable scattering patterns produced at the operating frequency of 10 GHz by the presented design are observed, which indicates its capability of real-time control of the angle of reflection. In conjunction with an experimental measurement, the effective enhancement of monostatic and bistatic cross-sections are validated.

Multidimensionally Manipulated Active Coding Metasurface by Merging Pancharatnam–Berry Phase and Dynamic Phase

AbstractMultidimensionally (amplitude, polarization, and phase) manipulated metasurfaces have drawn more significant advantages in modern photonic applications. In this paper, the active multidimensionally manipulated metasurface merging Pancharatnam–Berry phase and dynamic phase is proposed. The phase and polarization of the coding elements here can be adjusted dynamically by utilizing positive‐intrinsic‐negative (PIN) diodes. More remarkably, the independent feeding of the coding elements in two layers is creatively proposed so that each coding element of the active coding metasurface (ACM) has four basic response states. And the four states can be dynamically switched by regulating the bias voltages imposed on the PIN diodes through field programmable gate array (FPGA). Therefore, the versatile functionalities of the ACM are achieved and all the functionalities can be implemented in real‐time. As a proof of concept, three specific functionalities are validated both from the simulation and measurement on a fabricated prototype with good coincidence with each other. The ACM can achieve copolarization, crosspolarization anomalous reflection, and circular‐linear polarization conversion for the incident circularly polarized wave. The proposed ACM opens new vistas in active metadevices and has broad application prospects in multifunctional devices and communication systems.

Electrically reconfigurable non-volatile metasurface using low-loss optical phase-change material.

Active metasurfaces promise reconfigurable optics with drastically improved compactness, ruggedness, manufacturability and functionality compared to their traditional bulk counterparts. Optical phase-change materials (PCMs) offer an appealing material solution for active metasurface devices with their large index contrast and non-volatile switching characteristics. Here we report a large-scale, electrically reconfigurable non-volatile metasurface platform based on optical PCMs. The optical PCM alloy used in the devices, Ge2Sb2Se4Te (GSST), uniquely combines giant non-volatile index modulation capability, broadband low optical loss and a large reversible switching volume, enabling notably enhanced light-matter interactions within the active optical PCM medium. Capitalizing on these favourable attributes, we demonstrated quasi-continuously tuneable active metasurfaces with record half-octave spectral tuning range and large optical contrast of over 400%. We further prototyped a polarization-insensitive phase-gradient metasurface to realize dynamic optical beam steering.

Nanoimprint lithography for high-throughput fabrication of metasurfaces.

Metasurfaces are composed of periodic sub-wavelength nanostructures and exhibit optical properties that are not found in nature. They have been widely investigated for optical applications such as holograms, wavefront shaping, and structural color printing, however, electron-beam lithography is not suitable to produce large-area metasurfaces because of the high fabrication cost and low productivity. Although alternative optical technologies, such as holographic lithography and plasmonic lithography, can overcome these drawbacks, such methods are still constrained by the optical diffraction limit. To break through this fundamental problem, mechanical nanopatterning processes have been actively studied in many fields, with nanoimprint lithography (NIL) coming to the forefront. Since NIL replicates the nanopattern of the mold regardless of the diffraction limit, NIL can achieve sufficiently high productivity and patterning resolution, giving rise to an explosive development in the fabrication of metasurfaces. In this review, we focus on various NIL technologies for the manufacturing of metasurfaces. First, we briefly describe conventional NIL and then present various NIL methods for the scalable fabrication of metasurfaces. We also discuss recent applications of NIL in the realization of metasurfaces. Finally, we conclude with an outlook on each method and suggest perspectives for future research on the high-throughput fabrication of active metasurfaces.

A reconfigurable active acoustic metalens

Acoustic metasurfaces have enabled unprecedented control over acoustic waves, offering opportunities in areas such as holographic rendering, sound absorption, and acoustic communication. Despite the steady progress made in this field, most acoustic metasurface designs are passive in that they only provide static functionalities. Here, a reconfigurable active acoustic metalens is implemented to showcase scanning of the focus along arbitrary trajectories in free space with the help of a previously developed active acoustic metasurface platform. Each unit cell of the metasurface contains a cavity, whose size can be tuned continuously by a dynamic control system to adjust the phase of the reflected wave. While this work focuses on beam focusing, it could hold great promise for a wide range of applications including acoustic levitation and tweezers.

Multifunctional and Tunable Radar Absorber Based on Graphene‐Integrated Active Metasurface

AbstractIn this article, a multifunctional and tunable radar absorber which can achieve dynamical modulation of absorbing frequency, bandwidth, and amplitude is presented. Such a tunable radar absorber is composed of a graphene capacitor layer and an active metasurface layer. By controlling the impedance characteristic of each layer through the external bias voltages, the absorber not only can achieve the ultrawideband electromagnetic (EM) absorbing performance, but also can be switched to a narrowband absorption mode, and its absorption amplitude can be further adjusted at each of the above operation modes. Both simulated and experimental results have demonstrated that the −10‐dB reflection bandwidth ranging from 3.55 to 19.6 GHz can be realized, and the average reflection amplitude can be dynamically tuned between −3.8 and −11.5 dB. In addition, by changing the bias voltages, the absorber can also, respectively, switch its −10 dB reflection bandwidth to 3.5−11.1 GHz and 10.9−18.9 GHz, where the larger dynamic range of amplitude modulation is obtained. The equivalent circuit model is employed to explain the tunable absorption mechanism by analyzing the impedance matching characteristics. This hybrid design approach can effectively expand the EM reconfigurable functionalities of the current tunable absorber, which may further open a novel way of the graphene application in microwave frequencies.

Reconfigurable all-dielectric metalens with diffraction-limited performance

Active metasurfaces, whose optical properties can be modulated post-fabrication, have emerged as an intensively explored field in recent years. The efforts to date, however, still face major performance limitations in tuning range, optical quality, and efficiency, especially for non-mechanical actuation mechanisms. In this paper, we introduce an active metasurface platform combining phase tuning in the full 2π range and diffraction-limited performance using an all-dielectric, low-loss architecture based on optical phase change materials (O-PCMs). We present a generic design principle enabling binary switching of metasurfaces between arbitrary phase profiles and propose a new figure-of-merit (FOM) tailored for reconfigurable meta-optics. We implement the approach to realize a high-performance varifocal metalens operating at 5.2 μm wavelength. The reconfigurable metalens features a record large switching contrast ratio of 29.5 dB. We further validate aberration-free and multi-depth imaging using the metalens, which represents a key experimental demonstration of a non-mechanical tunable metalens with diffraction-limited performance.

Control of the harmonic near-field distributions by an active metasurface loaded with pin diodes

Recent advances of space-time-coding digital metasurfaces demonstrate powerful capabilities in the generation of nonlinear harmonics and the accurate control of the corresponding wavefronts. However, to date the near field manipulation and the experiment characterization are still not explored. In this paper, we propose a space-time-digital coding metasurface to realize accurate manipulation of the near fields at the fundamental and + 1 st ( − 1 st) harmonics simultaneously, by properly controlling the initial phase and time delay of the time varying reflectivity. A novel mapping system is established to measure the nonlinear near field distributions of multiharmonics. Both the simulation and experimental results demonstrate the validity of the proposed method.

Enhanced Performance and Diffusion Robustness of Phase-Change Metasurfaces via a Hybrid Dielectric/Plasmonic Approach.

Materials of which the refractive indices can be thermally tuned or switched, such as in chalcogenide phase-change alloys, offer a promising path towards the development of active optical metasurfaces for the control of the amplitude, phase, and polarization of light. However, for phase-change metasurfaces to be able to provide viable technology for active light control, in situ electrical switching via resistive heaters integral to or embedded in the metasurface itself is highly desirable. In this context, good electrical conductors (metals) with high melting points (i.e., significantly above the melting point of commonly used phase-change alloys) are required. In addition, such metals should ideally have low plasmonic losses, so as to not degrade metasurface optical performance. This essentially limits the choice to a few noble metals, namely, gold and silver, but these tend to diffuse quite readily into phase-change materials (particularly the archetypal Ge2Sb2Te5 alloy used here), and into dielectric resonators such as Si or Ge. In this work, we introduce a novel hybrid dielectric/plasmonic metasurface architecture, where we incorporated a thin Ge2Sb2Te5 layer into the body of a cubic silicon nanoresonator lying on metallic planes that simultaneously acted as high-efficiency reflectors and resistive heaters. Through systematic studies based on changing the configuration of the bottom metal plane between high-melting-point diffusive and low-melting-point nondiffusive metals (Au and Al, respectively), we explicitly show how thermally activated diffusion can catastrophically and irreversibly degrade the optical performance of chalcogenide phase-change metasurface devices, and how such degradation can be successfully overcome at the design stage via the incorporation of ultrathin Si3N4 barrier layers between the gold plane and the hybrid Si/Ge2Sb2Te5 resonators. Our work clarifies the importance of diffusion of noble metals in thermally tunable metasurfaces and how to overcome it, thus helping phase-change-based metasurface technology move a step closer towards the realization of real-world applications.

Invisibility cloaking with passive and active Huygens's metasurfaces

According to the Equivalence Principle, any distribution of electromagnetic fields can be generated within a closed region by suitable electric and magnetic sources lying on its bounding surface. In electromagnetic theory, these sources have been used as fictitious analytical tools. However, this has changed in recent years with the development of “Huygens's metasurfaces,” which are subwavelength thin sheets of artificial active and/or passive elements. With proper configuration, these elements can physically approximate the aforementioned sources, enabling precise manipulation of electromagnetic waves in extraordinary manners. Given their potential, this work aims to provide an overview of Huygens's metasurfaces with a focus on cloaking applications. After an exposition of general operation and design principles, both active and passive Huygens's cloaks are described.

Switchable wavefront control using an all-dielectric metasurface mediated by VO2

Active metasurfaces using metal–insulator transition materials such as vanadium dioxide (VO2) have been demonstrated recently. As most of them are based on plasmonic metasurfaces, it is difficult to realize transmissive devices at optical frequencies. In this study, we theoretically propose and demonstrate the transmission type of an active all-dielectric metasurface mediated by VO2. We numerically study the optical properties of a cylindrical Mie resonator consisting of crystalline silicon and VO2 layers, and we find that it achieves a 2π phase shift of approximately 1550 nm by tuning the radius. The proposed structure can be applied to non-mechanical beam steering, polarizers, metalenses, etc.