An Intelligent Programmable Omni-Metasurface

Reconfigurable metasurfaces have emerged as a versatile platform for reshaping the wireless environment into a desirable form at low cost. Despite the rapid growth, most of the existing metasurfaces only support reflection operation or transmission operation, only providing service coverage of backward or forward half-space when they are used for wireless communications. Here, an intelligent programmable omni-metasurface integrating reflection mode, transmission mode, and duplex mode of simultaneous reflection and transmission modes in the same polarization and frequency channel is proposed, capable of providing ubiquitous full-space service coverage for multiuser wireless communication applications. As exemplary demonstrations, a series of dynamic functionalities have been realized, including twin-beam scanning in reflection mode, twin-beam scanning in transmission mode, and identical/distinct dynamic beams for both forward and backward half-spaces in duplex mode, which are customized for signal reflection, transmission, and simultaneous symmetric/asymmetric reflection and transmission in wireless communication scenarios. The proposed tunable omni-metasurface provides a new method for full-space wave manipulation, which may offer untapped potentials for real-time, fast, and sophisticated wave control in applications such as miniaturized systems, integrated photonics, and intelligent communications.