Reconfigurable metasurfaces towards commercial success

Reconfigurable optical metasurfaces are rapidly emerging as a major frontier in photonics research, development and commercialization. They promise compact, lightweight and energy-efficient reconfigurable optical systems with unprecedented performance and functions that can be dynamically defined on-demand. Compared with their passive counterparts, the reconfiguration capacity also poses challenges in scalable control, manufacturing and control toward their practical deployment. This Review aims to survey the state of the art of reconfigurable metasurface technologies and their applications, using spaceborne remote sensing, active beam steering and light field displays as examples, while highlighting key research advances that are essential to enabling their transition from laboratory curiosity to commercial reality. Recent developments in reconfigurable metasurfaces are reviewed with a focus on case studies that are promising for commercialization and associated challenges.