Surface Susceptibility Synthesis of Metasurface Skins/Holograms for Electromagnetic Camouflage/Illusions

TL;DR

This paper introduces a numerical framework for designing metasurface holograms and skins that create electromagnetic illusions and camouflage, enabling dynamic and angle-dependent invisibility in complex scenes.

Contribution

It develops a systematic IE-GSTC based method for synthesizing metasurface illusions and camouflage, including dynamic and observer-independent concealment.

Findings

Effective creation of electromagnetic illusions using metasurfaces.

Internal illumination is necessary for accurate field recreation.

Demonstration of dynamic, movable camouflage regions.

Abstract

A systematic numerical framework based on Integral Equations and Generalized Sheet Transition Conditions (IE-GSTCs) is presented in 2D to synthesize closed metasurface holograms and skins for creating electromagnetic illusions of specified objects and as a special case, to camouflaging them against their backgrounds. The versatile hologram surface is modeled using a zero-thickness sheet model of a generalized metasurface expressed in terms of its surface susceptibilities, which is further integrated into the GSTCs and the IE current-field propagation operators. To estimate the effectiveness of the illusions, the notion of a scene constructed by an observer is developed from first principles and a simple mathematical model, referred to as a Structured Field Observation (SFO), based on spatial Fourier transform is proposed. Using numerical examples, it is shown that to recreate the reference desired fields everywhere in space using a closed metasurface hologram/skin, an internal illumination must be applied inside the hologram, in addition to the applied external illumination fields. Finally, several numerical examples are presented for simple, angle-dependent and dynamic illusions. Finally, a dynamic camouflaged region of space, which can freely move inside a given complex scene without being detected by the observer is demonstrated.