Tunable terahertz radiation from arbitrary profile dielectric grating coated with graphene excited by an electron beam

In this paper, the enhanced terahertz radiation transformed from surface plasmon polaritons, excited by a uniformly moving electron bunch, in a structure consisting of a monolayer graphene supported on a dielectric grating with arbitrary profile is investigated. The results show that the grating profile has significant influence on the dispersion curves and radiation characteristics including radiation frequency and intensity. The dependence of dispersion and radiation characteristics on the grating shape for both the symmetric and asymmetric gratings is studied in detail. Moreover, we find that, for an asymmetric grating with certain profile, there exist two different diffraction types, and one of the two types can provide higher radiation intensity comparing to the other one. These results will definitely facilitate the practical application in developing a room-temperature, tunable, coherent and miniature terahertz radiation source.

Anisotropic coding metamaterials and their powerful manipulation of differently polarized terahertz waves

Metamaterials based on effective media can be used to produce a number of unusual physical properties(for example,negative refraction and invisibility cloaking)because they can be tailored with effective medium parameters that do not occur in nature.Recently,the use of coding metamaterials has been suggested for the control of electromagnetic waves through the design of coding sequences using digital elements‘0’and‘1,'which possess opposite phase responses.Here we propose the concept of an anisotropic coding metamaterial in which the coding behaviors in different directions are dependent on the polarization status of the electromagnetic waves.We experimentally demonstrate an ultrathin and flexible polarization-controlled anisotropic coding metasurface that functions in the terahertz regime using specially designed coding elements.By encoding the elements with elaborately designed coding sequences(both 1-bit and 2-bit sequences),the x-and y-polarized waves can be anomalously reflected or independently diffused in three dimensions.The simulated far-field scattering patterns and near-field distributions are presented to illustrate the dual-functional performance of the encoded metasurface,and the results are consistent with the measured results.We further demonstrate the ability of the anisotropic coding metasurfaces to generate a beam splitter and realize simultaneous anomalous reflections and polarization conversions,thus providing powerful control of differently polarized electromagnetic waves.The proposed method enables versatile beam behaviors under orthogonal polarizations using a single metasurface and has the potential for use in the development of interesting terahertz devices.

Broadband diffusion of terahertz waves by multi-bit coding metasurfaces

The terahertz region is a special region of the electromagnetic spectrum that incorporates the advantages of both microwaves and infrared light waves.In the past decade,metamaterials with effective medium parameters or gradient phases have been studied to control terahertz waves and realize functional devices.Here,we present a new approach to manipulate terahertz waves by using coding metasurfaces that are composed of digital coding elements.We propose a general coding unit based on a Minkowski closed-loop particle that is capable of generating 1-bit coding(with two phase states of 0 and 180°),2-bit coding(with four phase states of 0,90°,180°,and 270°),and multi-bit coding elements in the terahertz frequencies by using different geometric scales.We show that multi-bit coding metasurfaces have strong abilities to control terahertz waves by designing-specific coding sequences.As an application,we demonstrate a new scattering strategy of terahertz waves—broadband and wide-angle diffusion—using a 2-bit coding metasurface with a special coding design and verify it by both numerical simulations and experiments.The presented method opens a new route to reducing the scattering of terahertz waves.

Coding metamaterials, digital metamaterials and programmable metamaterials

Metamaterials are artificial structures that are usually described by effective medium parameters on the macroscopic scale,and these metamaterials are referred to as‘analog metamaterials’.Here,we propose‘digital metamaterials’through two steps.First,we present‘coding metamaterials’that are composed of only two types of unit cells,with 0 and p phase responses,which we name‘0’and‘1’elements,respectively.By coding‘0’and‘1’elements with controlled sequences(i.e.,1-bit coding),we can manipulate electromagnetic(EM)waves and realize different functionalities.The concept of coding metamaterials can be extended from 1-bit coding to 2-bit coding or higher.In 2-bit coding,four types of unit cells,with phase responses of 0,p/2,p,and 3p/2,are required to mimic the‘00’,‘01’,‘10’and‘11’elements,respectively.The 2-bit coding has greater freedom than 1-bit coding for controlling EM waves.Second,we propose a unique metamaterial particle that has either a‘0’or‘1’response controlled by a biased diode.Based on this particle,we present‘digital metamaterials’with unit cells that possess either a‘0’or‘1’state.Using a field-programmable gate array,we realize digital control over the digital metamaterial.By programming different coding sequences,a single digital metamaterial has the ability to manipulate EM waves in different manners,thereby realizing‘programmable metamaterials’.The above concepts and physical phenomena are confirmed through numerical simulations and experiments using metasurfaces.