Tailoring Terahertz Propagation by Phase and Amplitude Control in Metasurfaces

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent advances in metasurfaces that manipulate terahertz wave propagation through phase and amplitude control, enabling ultra-thin, compact components for free-space and surface wave applications.

Contribution

It presents new designs and concepts for terahertz metasurfaces that achieve arbitrary wavefront control and surface wave manipulation, extending the control to surface wave regimes.

Findings

Demonstrated metasurfaces for controlling terahertz wavefronts

Developed ultra-thin, compact terahertz components

Extended control to surface wave regimes

Abstract

Using metasurfaces to control the wave propagation at will has been very successful over the broad electromagnetic spectrum in recent years. By encoding specially designed abrupt changes of electromagnetic parameters into metasurfaces, such as phase and amplitude, nearly arbitrary control over the output wavefronts could be realized. Constituted by a single- or fewlayer of planar structures, metasurfaces are straightforward in design and fabrication, thus promising many realistic applications. Moreover, such control concept can be further extended to the surface wave regime. In this review, we present our recent progress on metasurfaces capable of tailoring the propagation of both free-space and surface terahertz waves. Following an introduction of the basic concept and theory, a number of unique terahertz metasurfaces are presented, showing the ability in devising ultra-thin and compact functional terahertz components.