A 1-bit electronically reconfigurable beam steerable metasurface reflectarray with multiple polarization manipulations

Abstract In this paper, a 1-bit electronically controlled metasurface reflectarray has been presented to achieve the beam steering with multiple polarization manipulations. A metsurface unit cell loaded by two PIN diodes has been designed. By switching the two PIN diodes between ON state and OFF state, the isotropic and anisotropic reflections can be flexibly achieved. For either the isotropic reflection or the anisotropic reflection, two operating states achieve the reflection coefficients with approximately equal magnitude and 180° out of phase, thus giving rise to the isotropic/anisotropic 1-bit metasurface unit cells. With the 1-bit unit cells, a 12-by-12 metasurface reflectarray has been optimally designed and fabricated. Under either y - or x -polarized incident wave illumination, the reflectarray can achieve the co-polarized and cross-polarized beam scanning, respectively, with the peak gains of 20.08 dBi and 17.26 dBi within the scan range of about ±50°. With the right-handed circular polarization (RHCP) excitation, the left-handed circular polarization (LHCP) radiation with the peak gain of 16.98 dBic can be achieved within the scan range of ±50°. Good agreement between the experiment results and the simulation results are observed for 2D beam steering and polarization manipulation capabilities.