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Sideband-free space–time-coding metasurface antennas

Nature Electronics volume 5, pages 808–819 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Applications such as microwave wireless communications, optical light fidelity, and light detection and ranging systems require advanced interfaces that can couple guided waves from in-plane sources into free space and manipulate the extracted free-space waves. Spatiotemporally modulated metasurfaces can control electromagnetic waves, but such systems are typically limited to free-space-only and waveguide-only platforms. Here we report a 1-bit space–time-coding metasurface antenna that can extract and mould guided waves into any desired free-space waves in both space and frequency domains. The waveguide-integrated metasurface antenna also provides a self-filtering phenomenon that overcomes the issue of sideband pollution found in traditional spatiotemporally modulated metasurfaces. To illustrate the capabilities of the approach, we use the metasurface antenna for high-efficiency frequency conversion, fundamental-frequency continuous beam scanning and independent control of multiple harmonics.

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Fig. 1: Conceptual illustration of the STC metasurface antenna.
Fig. 2: High-efficiency frequency conversion and beam steering.
Fig. 3: Arbitrary harmonic frequency conversion.
Fig. 4: Fundamental-frequency beam scanning.
Fig. 5: Multiharmonic independent control.
Fig. 6: Prototype design, modelling and characterization.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.

Code availability

The codes that support the theoretical modelling of the metasurface antennas are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Hong Kong Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong SAR under grant T42-103/16-N (received by C.H.C.); the Guangdong Provincial Department of Science and Technology, China, under project no. 2020B1212030002 (received by C.H.C.); the Basic Scientific Center of Information Metamaterials of the National Natural Science Foundation of China under grant 6228810001 (received by T.J.C. and Q.C.); the National Key Research and Development Program of China under grants 2017YFA0700201, 2017YFA0700202, 2017YFA0700203 and 2018YFA0701904 (received by T.J.C. and Q.C.); the National Natural Science Foundation of China under grant 61731010 (received by Q.C.) and 62201139 (received by J.Y.D.); the 111 Project under grant 111-2-05 (received by T.J.C.); the Jiangsu Province Frontier Leading Technology Basic Research Project under grant BK20212002 (received by T.J.C.); the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities under grants 2242022k30004 (received by Q.C.) and 2242022R10185 (received by J.Y.D.); and the National Science Foundation of China (NSFC) for Distinguished Young Scholars of China under grant 62225108 (received by Q.C.). We gratefully acknowledge K. F. Chan of the State Key Laboratory of Terahertz and Millimeter Waves (City University of Hong Kong) for his help in the metasurface fixture fabrication.

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Geng-Bo Wu, Jun Yan Dai.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Terahertz and Millimeter Waves, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Geng-Bo Wu & Chi Hou Chan

  2. State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves, Southeast University, Nanjing, China

    Jun Yan Dai, Qiang Cheng & Tie Jun Cui

  3. Institute of Electromagnetic Space, Southeast University, Nanjing, China

    Jun Yan Dai, Qiang Cheng & Tie Jun Cui

  4. Frontiers Science Center for Mobile Information Communication and Security, Southeast University, Nanjing, China

    Jun Yan Dai, Qiang Cheng & Tie Jun Cui

  5. Department of Electrical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Chi Hou Chan

  6. Guangdong-Hong Kong Joint Laboratory for Big Data Imaging and Communication, Shenzhen, China

    Chi Hou Chan

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Contributions

Q.C., T.J.C. and C.H.C. suggested the designs, planned and supervised the entire study, and led the project. G.-B.W. and J.Y.D. conceived the idea of this work. G.-B.W. designed the metasurface, and J.Y.D. designed the experiments. G.-B.W. and J.Y.D. carried out the measurements and data analysis. G.-B.W., J.Y.D., Q.C., T.J.C. and C.H.C. contributed to the writing of the paper. All the authors discussed the theoretical modelling and numerical simulations, and reviewed the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jun Yan Dai, Qiang Cheng, Tie Jun Cui or Chi Hou Chan.

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Nature Electronics thanks Haoran Ren and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary Notes 1–12, Figs. 1–14, Tables 1–4 and Equations (1)–(5).

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Wu, GB., Dai, J.Y., Cheng, Q. et al. Sideband-free space–time-coding metasurface antennas. Nat Electron 5, 808–819 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-022-00857-0

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