Single-Layer Achiral Metasurface with Independent Amplitude-Phase Control for Both Left-Handed and Right-Handed Circular Polarizations

Amplitude-phase control for circular polarized (CP) waves is experiencing a research upsurge in electromagnetics owing to the kaleidoscopic electromagnetic responses and promising application prospects of circular polarizations, and chiral metasurfaces are more facile to achieve a series of intriguing chiral phenomena than natural materials. However, it is difficult for most existing chiral metasurfaces to independently tailor the amplitude and phase of left-handed circular polarized and right-handed circular polarized waves at the same frequency as they suffer the drawbacks of large thickness, multiple layers, and complex structure. Herein, an innovative strategy of single-layer achiral metasurfaces of thickness 0.13 lambda(0) is proposed to independently and simultaneously manipulate the amplitude and phase of orthogonal CP waves. As a proof of concept, an amplitude and phase controlled dual-channel meta-hologram is designed to reconstruct diverse images with high fidelity under orthogonal CP illumination, and the simulated and experimental results collectively validate the availability of our methodology. Significantly, the meta-hologram is also applicable to full polarization states according to the decomposition of electromagnetic waves. The inspiring design of single-layer achiral metasurfaces provides a simple and effective approach to explore chiral effects, and they possess enormous application potential in multitudinous microwave devices.

Automated summary

Amplitude-phase control for circular polarized (CP) waves is a hot research topic in electromagnetics due to their promising applications. This paper proposes an innovative strategy of single-layer achiral metasurfaces to independently manipulate the amplitude and phase of orthogonal CP waves, and verifies the feasibility through the design of a meta-hologram.