Active terahertz beam steering based on mechanical deformation of liquid crystal elastomer metasurface

Xiaolin Zhuang; Wei Zhang; Kemeng Wang; Yangfan Gu; Youwen An; Xueqian Zhang; Jianqiang Gu; Dan Luo; Jiaguang Han; Weili Zhang

doi:10.1038/s41377-022-01046-6

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Active terahertz beam steering based on mechanical deformation of liquid crystal elastomer metasurface

Original Articles

- Active terahertz beam steering based on mechanical deformation of liquid crystal elastomer metasurface
- Light: Science & Applications Vol. 12, Issue 1, Pages: 118-127(2023)
- Affiliations：
  
  1.Center for Terahertz Waves and College of Precision Instrument and Optoelectronics Engineering, Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Information Technology, Ministry of Education, Tianjin University, 300072 Tianjin, China
  2.Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, 518055 Shenzhen, China
  3.School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA
- Author bio：
  
  Jianqiang Gu (gjq@tju.edu.cn)
  Dan Luo (luod@sustech.edu.cn)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1038/s41377-022-01046-6
  CLC：
- Published：31 January 2023，
  
  Published Online：4 January 2023，
  
  Received：22 August 2022，
  
  Revised：21 November 2022，
  
  Accepted：25 November 2022
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Zhuang, X. L. et al. Active terahertz beam steering based on mechanical deformation of liquid crystal elastomer metasurface. Light: Science & Applications, 12, 118-127 (2023).
DOI：

Zhuang, X. L. et al. Active terahertz beam steering based on mechanical deformation of liquid crystal elastomer metasurface. Light: Science & Applications, 12, 118-127 (2023). DOI： 10.1038/s41377-022-01046-6.

摘要

Abstract

Active metasurfaces are emerging as the core of next-generation optical devices with their tunable optical responses and flat-compact topography. Especially for the terahertz band

active metasurfaces have been developed as fascinating devices for optical chopping and compressive sensing imaging. However

performance regulation by changing the dielectric parameters of the integrated functional materials exhibits severe limitations and parasitic losses. Here

we introduce a C-shape-split-ring-based phase discontinuity metasurface with liquid crystal elastomer as the substrate for infrared modulation of terahertz wavefront. Line-focused infrared light is applied to manipulate the deflection of the liquid crystal elastomer substrate

enabling controllable and broadband wavefront steering with a maximum output angle change of 22° at 0.68 THz. Heating as another control method is also investigated and compared with infrared control. We further demonstrate the performance of liquid crystal elastomer metasurface as a beam steerer

frequency modulator

and tunable beam splitter

which are highly desired in terahertz wireless communication and imaging systems. The proposed scheme demonstrates the promising prospects of mechanically deformable metasurfaces

thereby paving the path for the development of reconfigurable metasurfaces.

关键词

Keywords

references

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