Spatiotemporal Dielectric Metasurfaces for Unidirectional Propagation and Reconfigurable Steering of Terahertz Beams

Next-generation devices for low-latency and seamless communication are envisioned to revolutionize information processing, which would directly impact human lives, technologies, and societies. The ever-increasing demand for wireless data traffic can be fulfilled by the terahertz band, which has received tremendous attention as the final frontier of the radio spectrum. However, attenuation due to atmospheric humidity and free-space path loss significantly limits terahertz signal propagation. High-gain antennas with directional radiation and reconfigurable beam steering are indispensable for loss compensation and terahertz signal processing, which are associated with spatial and temporal dimensions, respectively. Here, experimental demonstration of a spatiotemporal dielectric metasurface for unidirectional propagation and ultrafast spatial beam steering of terahertz waves is shown. The spatial dimension of the metasurface provides a solution to eliminate backscattering of collimated unidirectional propagation of the terahertz wave with steerable directionality. Temporal modulation of the spatial optical properties enables ultrafast reconfigurable beam steering. Silicon-based spatiotemporal devices amalgamate the rich physics of metasurfaces and technologies that are promising for overcoming the bottlenecks of future terahertz communication, such as high-speed and secure wireless data transmission, beamforming and ultrafast data processing.