Dual-mode bidirectional multifunctional chiral metamaterial based on self-complementary resonators

Abstract

In this paper, we propose an intrinsic chiral metamaterial (ICM) consisting of two metal self-complementary resonators, dielectric layer, and an embedded continuous vanadium dioxide (VO2) layer, which can operate in reflection and transmission modes and tailor different polarization manipulations for circular and linear polarized waves in opposite incident directions. When VO2 is in metallic state, the ICM can achieve broadband and narrowband circular polarization conversions at 1.52–2.50 THz and 2.93 THz for opposite propagating directions, respectively; when VO2 is in an insulating state, it shows a strong asymmetric transmission (AT) effect at 2.43 and 3.19 THz for forward and backward linear polarized waves. In addition, the physical mechanisms of different polarization operations are explained by analyzing the surface current and electric field distributions, multiple interference model, and near-field distributions in detail, and the circuit models are introduced to verify the simulated results. Furthermore, we investigate the influence of structural parameters on performance. The proposed ICM has important implications for the development of polarization detectors, frequency selectors, etc.