Balanced-ternary-inspired reconfigurable vortex beams using cascaded metasurfaces.

Area of Science:

• Optics and Photonics
• Metamaterials
• Wave Phenomena

Background:

• Electromagnetic vortices possess orbital angular momentum, crucial for advanced wave technologies like optical communications.
• Generating high-order vortex beams efficiently and reconfigurably remains a significant challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate a novel method for reconfigurable generation of order-controllable electromagnetic vortex beams.
• To overcome the limitations of existing techniques in terms of order, bandwidth, and cost-effectiveness.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing a cascade of N-layer metasurfaces inspired by the balanced-ternary concept.
• Theoretically analyzing the generation of vortex modes based on the number and configuration of metasurfaces.
• Experimentally demonstrating the concept in the millimeter-wave region using 3 cascaded metasurfaces.

Main Results:

• A system capable of generating 26 distinct vortex beams with orders ranging from -13 to +13 was successfully demonstrated.
• The method allows for reconfigurable control over the vortex beam order.
• The generation was achieved across a broad millimeter-wave frequency range.

Conclusions:

• The cascaded metasurface approach provides a flexible, implementable, and cost-effective solution for generating arbitrary-order vortex beams.
• This technique opens new possibilities for applications in optical communications, integrated photonics, and other wave-based technologies.