Multichannel direct transmissions of near-field information

A digital-coding programmable metasurface (DCPM) is a type of functional system that is composed of subwavelength-scale digital coding elements with opposite phase responses. By configuring the digital coding elements, a DCPM can construct dynamic near-field image patterns in which the intensity of each pixel of the image can be dynamically and independently modulated. Thus, a DCPM can perform both spatial and temporal modulations. Here, this advantage is used to realize multichannel direct transmissions of near-field information. Three points are selected in the near-field region to form three independent channels. By applying various digital phase codes on the DCPM, independent binary digital symbols defined by amplitude codes (namely, weak and strong amplitudes) are transmitted through the three channels. The measured near-field distributions and temporal transmissions of the system agree with numerical calculations. Compared with the conventional multichannel transmission, the proposed mechanism achieves simultaneous spatial and temporal modulations by treating DCPM as an energy radiator and information modulator, thereby enduing DCPM with high potential in near-field information processing and communications.