Infrared-Microwave Compatible Stealth Transparent Metasurface With Digital Camouflage and Hybrid...

With the rapid advancement of detection technologies, single-band stealth strategies have become ineffective, rendering research into multispectral compatible stealth imperative. Thus, there is a pressing need for stealth solutions enabling effective simultaneous stealth performance across visible, infrared (IR) and microwave bands. Here, we propose a visible-light transparent metasurface (MS) architecture with simultaneous digital IR camouflage and microwave radar cross section (RCS) reduction. Specifically, the composite MS consists of an IR camouflage layer (IRCL) using digital camouflage strategy with varied emissivity and an RCS reduction layer (RRL) based on hybrid absorption-scattering mechanism. Unlike traditional IR-radar compatible stealth MS relying on IR low-emissivity and microwave absorption, this design adopts digital IR camouflage mechanism for non-uniform emissivity backgrounds. Moreover, the hybrid absorption-scattering overcomes intrinsic drawback (enhanced IR radiation by heat accumulation) of pure absorption. For feasibility verification, a sample was fabricated and experimentally characterised. Experimental results indicate that the metadevice achieves an IR camouflage in 3-14 μm, a 10 dB RCS reduction within 7.5-16.5 GHz and a high visible-light transmittance up to 55.3% and thus offers a lightweight and integrated solution for multispectral stealth applications.