Tailorable Switching of Transmission Modes between Waveguide and Spoof Surface Plasmon Polariton for Flexible and Dynamic Control of Phase Shift

Abstract

Programmable metamaterials are suitable for their dynamic and real-time control capabilities of electromagnetic (EM) functions in radars and antenna communications, but it remains a challenge to achieve dynamic modulation of arbitrary transmission phase with high transmission efficiency. Here, we propose a paradigm to tailor transmission phase shift in real time by switching modes between waveguide and SSPP based on the voltage-driven PIN diodes. Step-like phase shift is achieved by the “ON” and “OFF” states of PIN diodes, while continuous phase regulation is by the characteristic of the nonlinear region between those two states. As validations, three systems with programmable functionalities are implemented, including the multibeam generator, the dual-beam scanner, and the active phased-array antenna. The experimental results are consistent with simulation, which verify the feasibility of the proposed approach. Our work offers an alternative route for transmission full-phase modulation and provides unprecedented potential for high-gain, real-time, and multidimensional EM capabilities in applications such as active phased array radars, self-adaption radomes, smart beam shaping.

Fabrication and characterization of delay lines with spoof surface plasmon polariton waveguide coupled with C-shaped metamaterials for microwave integrated circuits

“…The conventional technology for sSPP waveguide manufacturing is based on the RF printed circuit board (PCB). [26][27][28] However, there are several issues associated with this technique, such as challenges associated with integrating microstructures that are smaller than typical fabrication errors. Because of its improved precision, micromachining technology on silicon substrates, which has been well established, can enable the fabrication of on-chip integrated sSPP devices based on silicon technology.…”

Highly efficient meta-lens integrated holographic surface antenna

“…Meta-lens, as a transmissive device to focus a light beam by adopting planar metamaterials with gradient refractive index, has demonstrated the great capacities of reshaping the wavefront on the basis of compensating the path length differences from the focus to enhance the antenna gains [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. The F-ratio, describing the relationship between the lens aperture and the focal length with the definition of dividing the focal length by the diameter of the lens, is thus often utilized to qualify the overall profile of the lens system [21,22].…”

Near-infrared plasmonic switch effect of polarization modulation induced by surface plasmon polaritons

“…Farmakidis et al designed an electrically driven photonic switch, which achieved the modulation of the light phase angle by controlling the temperature of the phase-change materials 5 . Qin et al proposed a paradigm to tailor transmission phase shift in real time by switching modes between waveguide and spoof surface plasmon polariton based on the voltage-driven PIN diodes 6 . Zhang et al presented a nanosystem composed of four graphene strips and blocks within a single layer, and achieved a dynamically tunable light intensity by turning the Fermi levels of graphene 7 In this work, we propose a polarization-modulated nanosystem consisting of Au grating, TiN film, and SiO2 substate.…”