Broadband switchable terahertz half-/quarter-wave plate based on VO2-metal hybrid metasurface with over/underdamped transition

Dynamically switchable half-/quarter-wave plates have recently been the focus in the terahertz regime. Conventional design strategies lead to multilayer metamaterials or narrowband metasurfaces. Here we propose a novel design strategy and a VO2-metal hybrid metasurface for achieving broadband dynamically switchable half-/quarter-wave plate (HWP/QWP) based on the transition from the overdamped to the underdamped resonance. Simulation results show that, by varying the VO2 conductivity by three orders of magnitude, the proposed metasurface's function can be switched between an HWP with polarization conversion ratio larger than 96% and a QWP with ellipticity close to -1 over the broad working band of 0.8-1.2 THz. We expect that the proposed design strategy will advance the engineering of metasurfaces for dynamically switchable functionalities beyond the terahertz regime.

Automated summary

A novel design strategy for dynamically switchable half-/quarter-wave plates using a VO2-metal hybrid metasurface has been proposed in this study. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed metasurface can achieve efficient switching performance in the frequency range of 0.8-1.2 THz.