Reflective and transmissive cross-polarization converter for terahertz wave in a switchable metamaterial

Abstract Utilizing the phase transition characteristic of vanadium dioxide, we present a metamaterial configuration to achieve both reflective and transmissive cross-polarization converters. When vanadium dioxide is metal, the design behaves as a reflective cross-polarization converter. It consists of metallic grating, topas spacer, and vanadium dioxide film. Polarization conversion ratio is more than 90% in the frequency range from 4.80 THz to 13.13 THz. When vanadium dioxide is insulator, the design behaves as a transmissive cross-polarization converter using cascaded metallic gratings with rotation angle 45°. High-efficiency broadband cross-polarization wave conversion is achieved in the frequency band of 0.50–4.75 THz. Effect of oblique incidence is studied on polarization conversion. Results tell that cross-polarization conversion is better when incident angle is in the range of 0°–40°. The designed metamaterial may have a certain inspiration for the research of terahertz multifunctional polarization converter.