Broadband wireless communication with space-time-varying polarization-converting metasurface

Reconfigurable metasurfaces have emerged as a promising alternative to the conventional transmitter of wireless communication systems, due to their abilities of encoding digital information onto electromagnetic properties without complex radio-frequency chains. However, most of them are still limited to narrow operation bandwidth. Here, we propose a broadband metasurface-based wireless communication system that can actively adapt to multiple users located at versatile directions through joint modulation of digital signals in the time domain and wave scatterings in the space domain. As exemplary demonstrations, highly directive beams are generated to enhance regional signals in real-time customized for users in desired directions and reduce the signal leakage in undesired directions. Experiments are carried out to verify that the system can provide stable wireless communication service in a broad band of 3.7-5.1 GHz, within which the transmitted color picture enabled by the time-varying spatial modulation of metasurface can be successfully recovered at the user terminals. The proposed system may offer untapped potentials for next-generation communications and radar systems where regional signal enhancement, active adaption to users, and large channel capacities are required.

Automated summary

Reconfigurable metasurfaces have emerged as a promising alternative to conventional wireless communication systems. However, most of them are limited to narrow bandwidth. In this paper, a broadband metasurface-based wireless communication system is proposed to adapt to multiple users through joint modulation of digital signals in the time and space domains. Experiments show that the system can provide stable wireless communication service within a broad band and successfully recover transmitted color pictures at user terminals. The proposed system has potential applications in next-generation communications and radar systems.