Programmable Wave-Based Meta-Computer

In light of the escalating demand for computing powers, wave-based analog computers have emerged as a compelling study area due to their remarkable capacity for ultra-fast operation. Here, a programmable wave-based computer, based on programmable meta-structures is proposed, which is also called as meta-computer. The meta-computer can perform various types of analog computations in real-time in the electromagnetic (EM) wave space, including matrix-vector multiplication, discrete Fourier transform, filtering, and solving complex matrix equations. Owing to the powerful capability of the programmable meta-structures in manipulating the EM fields and waves in real-time, the proposed meta-computer exhibits the advantages of flexible re-programmability, low complexity, and direct computation in the EM space. Two prototypes of the meta-computer in the microwave frequency are designed and fabricated, and the computing capability is validated through both numerical simulations and experiments. This work contributes a prominent approach for fully programmable wave-based computers with noteworthy implications for expanding the applications of analog computing.