Multifunctional Programmable Transmissive Metasurface with Phase and Amplitude Manipulation Capability

Digital and programmable metasurfaces provide novel approaches to connect electromagnetic (EM) physics with information science for flexible EM wave manipulation and information modulation. However, most recent studies on programmable metasurfaces have been focused on reflective phase coding and only provide limited regulation capability. To overcome these limitations, we propose a transmissive programmable metasurface with both amplitude and phase coding. The function of the metasurface can vary according to different control voltages. Typically, the metasurface achieves multiple-bit phase control and phase-amplitude joint control. To prove the unique features, we design and fabricate a prototype of the metasurface to verify the functions of vortex beam generation, hologram imaging, and beam forming. The measured results show good performance of the proposed metasurface, implying powerful EM manipulation capability and indicating a wide range of application potentials in imaging, data storage, wireless communications, and so on.