Research Article

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Electromagnetic Diffusion and Encryption Holography

Integration Based on Reflection–Transmission
Reconfigurable Digital Coding Metasurface
Liang Wei Wu, Qiang Xiao, Yue Gou, Rui Yuan Wu, Peng Xu, Ye Ming Qing,
Zheng Xing Wang, Lei Bao, Hui Feng Ma,* and Tie Jun Cui*

manipulation capacity only in half space

The integration of different functionalities into a real-time reconfigurable (reflection space or transmission space)
metasurface can give it more powerful ability in manipulation of electromag- but cannot deal with EM waves in another
netic (EM) waves. Here, a reflection–transmission (R-T) reconfigurable digital half space. Recently, some full space
metasurfaces, which can simultaneously
coding metasurface, which can be flexibly switched between the reflection
manipulate the EM waves in both reflec-
and transmission working states with the completely different functions, is tion and transmission states, have been
proposed and demonstrated. As a proof of concept, an R-T reconfigurable proposed.[25–28] However, all of them are
metasurface with integrated functions of EM diffusion in reflection state and anisotropic and passive, which can only
encryption holography in transmission state is designed and demonstrated. manipulate one single polarized wave no
matter in reflection or transmission space,
The results have been validated by both numerical simulations and experi-
and their functions are fixed once the
mental measurements, showing that the proposed R-T reconfigurable metas- design is completed.
urface can be real-timely controlled to work in reflection state or transmission In 2014, the concept of digital coding
state by adjusting bias voltage, in which the incident EM waves are totally metasurface was proposed for the first
reflected and randomly diffused to achieve low radar cross section (RCS) in time, which establishes a link between
reflection state and efficiently transmitted to realize encrypted holographic the physical world and information sci-
ence.[29–31] Based on digital coding meta-
images in transmission state.
surface, many impressive works have
been proposed, such as EM diffusion,[29,32]
microwave holography,[33–37] harmonic
1. Introduction modulation[38–40] and wireless communication.[41–43] However,
most digital coding metasurfaces are either reflection type or
Metasurfaces, which can be regarded as 2D planar metamate- transmission type due to convenient design and easy fabrica-
rials by placing a series of artificial meta-atoms into a 2D pat- tion. Impressively, a concept of orbital-angular-momentum
tern on a surface, have attracted much attention in recent years (OAM)-encrypted holography was first proposed based on the
due to their powerful ability in the control of EM waves.[1–3] digital coding metasurface in Ref. [37], but it is passive and
Metasurfaces have obvious advantages compared to the conven- can only work in the transmission state with a single func-
tional bulky metamaterials, such as low profile, low losses, easy tion. Recently, some multifunctional full-space reconfigurable
fabrication, etc. In addition, metasurfaces also enable strong digital coding metasurfaces also have been proposed,[34,44–46] but
control of multiple degrees of freedom (DoFs) of EM proper- they either only can be used to control one specific polarized
ties, including magnitudes,[4–6] phases,[7–11] polarizations,[12–15] waves, or hardly to further independently tailor the wavefronts
and so on.[16,17] of reflection and transmission waves, respectively, to realize
Metasurfaces are generally classified into reflection the integration of different functions, which limit the full
type[7,18–20] or transmission type,[8,21–24] and they have EM utilization of polarization and space resources. For example,
a programmable metasurface simultaneously operating in
the transmission and reflection modes has been proposed in
L. W. Wu, Q. Xiao, Y. Gou, R. Y. Wu, P. Xu, Y. M. Qing, Z. X. Wang, L. Bao,
H. F. Ma, T. J. Cui Ref. [45], but it can only deal with one specific polarized wave
State Key Laboratory of Millimeter Waves (vertically or horizontally polarized wave) in each half of space.
School of Information Science and Engineering In this paper, an R-T reconfigurable digital coding metas-
Southeast University urface loaded with PIN diodes is proposed, which can be flex-
Nanjing 210096, China
E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]
ibly switched between the reflection and transmission working
states by controlling the bias voltage loaded on PIN diodes. The
The ORCID identification number(s) for the author(s) of this article
can be found under https://doi.org/10.1002/adom.202102657.
metasurface is completely anisotropic and can independently
control the vertically- and horizontally-polarized waves in both
DOI: 10.1002/adom.202102657 reflection and transmission states. In addition, the reflection

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Figure 1. Schematic diagram of the proposed R-T reconfigurable digital coding metasurface with integrated functions of reflected EM diffusion and
transmitted encryption holography.

and transmission functions can be completely independent. As of layers 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6 to achieve the desired transmission
a proof of concept, an R-T reconfigurable digital coding metas- function, such as the OAM-encrypted holography in this work,
urface with the integrated functions of far-field EM diffusion in that is, the real transmission holographic images (three focal
reflection state and near-field encryption holography in trans- spots for x-polarized waves and two focal spots for y-polarized
mission state is designed and demonstrated. The performance waves) can be recovered only when the incident plane waves are
of the designed metasurface is validated by both full-wave sim- OAM modes with topological charges of lx = +1 and ly = −1 for
ulations and experimental measurements, which show a good x- and y-polarized waves, respectively. It is worth mentioning
agreement with each other and are consistent very well with the that the proposed metasurface is completely anisotropic, where
theoretical expectation. the x- and y-polarized waves can be independently manipulated
no matter in reflection state or transmission state.
Figure 2 shows the configuration of unit cell based on the
2. Principle of Operation printed circuit board (PCB) process, which consists of six layers
with equal interval g = 5 mm. The dielectric substrate of PCB
The schematic diagram of the proposed R-T reconfigurable is F4B with a thickness of d = 0.5 mm, whose relative permit-
digital coding metasurface composed of six layers is illus- tivity is 2.25 and loss tangent is 0.001. The third layer is a con-
trated in Figure 1, in which the third layer is a control layer trol layer loaded with PIN diodes, which has the same metallic
loaded with voltage controlled PIN diodes in horizontal and pattern on both front and back sides, but with 90° rotational
vertical directions, respectively. When the PIN diodes are ON symmetry. The geometric parameters of the control layer
(Vbias = 1.35 V), the control layer is closed for the incident EM shown in Figure 2a are a = 0.6 mm, b = 1.75 mm, c = 0.3 mm,
waves, behaving as a perfect electric conductor (PEC), and the e = 5 mm, s = 0.3 mm. The equivalent circuit of PIN diode
metasurface works in reflection state at this moment. The inci- (MACOM MADP-000907-14020)[38,47] used in the design is
dent waves will be totally reflected by the control layer and fur- given at the bottom of Figure 2a. When the PIN diode is ON,
ther manipulated by the encoded surfaces of layers 1 and 2 to its equivalent circuit is the series of an inductor L = 30pH and
achieve the desired reflection function, such as EM diffusion a resistor R = 7.8Ω, which cannot introduce the LC resonance.
in this work, that is, both x- and y-polarized incident EM waves The simulation result is shown in upper figure of Figure 2b,
are totally reflected and randomly diffused in reflection space. and the control layer is closed for the incident waves. However,
However, when the PIN diodes are OFF (Vbias = 0), the con- when the PIN diode is OFF, its equivalent circuit will be the
trol layer is completely transparent for the EM waves, and the series of an inductor L = 30pH and a capacitor C = 28fF, which
metasurface works in transmission state at this moment. The can introduce a LC resonance around 8.9 GHz. The simula-
incident EM waves can efficiently pass through the metasur- tion result is shown in lower figure of Figure 2b, and the control
face and be further manipulated by the joint encoded surfaces layer is completely transparent for the incident waves around

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Figure 2. The configuration of unit cell and its amplitude and phase responses under x-polarized incidence. a) The configuration of unit cell and the equiva-
lent circuit of the loaded PIN diode. b) The simulated electric field distributions on the back side of the control layer when PIN diode works in ON and OFF
states, respectively. c,d) The reflected amplitude and phase responses with different Ry when the PIN diode is ON and Rx = 7.5 mm. e,f) The reflected ampli-
tude and phase responses with different Rx when the PIN diode is ON. g,h) The transmitted amplitude and phase responses with different Ry and Ty when the
PIN diode is OFF and Rx, Tx are fixed. i,j) The transmission amplitude and phase responses with different Tx, when the PIN diode is OFF and Rx = 7.34 or 7.59 mm.

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Figure 3. The simulated results of EM diffusion at 8.9 GHz when the metasurface works in reflection state. a) The random reflection coding sequence.
b,c) The 3D far-field radiation patterns under x- and y-polarized incidences, respectively. d) The far-field radiation pattern of PEC. e,f) The 2D far-field
radiation patterns of E planes and H planes under x- and y-polarized incidences, respectively.

8.9 GHz in this situation. The other layers are all composed of x-polarized waves are totally reflected by the metasurface,
orthogonal I-shaped structures with the geometric parameters but their reflected amplitudes and phases are not affected
of w = 0.5 mm, l = 1.7 mm, p = 8 mm, and variables Rx, Ry, Tx by the change of Ry. However, when Rx changes, the
and Ty. x-polarized waves are also totally reflected by the metasur-
Figure 2c,d shows the reflection amplitudes and phases face as shown in Figure 2e, but their reflection phases are
of x-polarized waves (Ex) varied with Ry when the PIN closely related to the change of Rx, as shown in Figure 2f,
diode on back side is ON, where the incident waves are in which Rx = 7.34 mm (code “1”) and 7.59 mm (code “0”)
illuminated along –z direction. The results show that the are selected to realize 180° reflection phase difference around

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Figure 4. The simulated results of encryption holography at 8.9 GHz when the metasurface works in transmission state. a) The required holographic
phase distributions of x- and y-polarized channels. b–d) The full-wave simulations of encryption holography under b) the correct OAM mode decryp-
tion (lx = +1, ly = −1) and c,d) wrong OAM mode decryptions (lx = −1, ly = +1 and lx = 0, ly = 0), respectively. e–h) The transmitted holographic images
of e) theoretical calculation and f–h) full-wave simulations under the f) correct OAM mode decryption (lx = +1, ly = −1) and g,h) wrong OAM mode
decryptions (lx = −1, ly = +1 and lx = 0, ly = 0), respectively.

8.9 GHz, and then the 1-bit reflection codes can be con- For the transmission waves, their transmission phases are
structed for the x-polarized waves. In addition, since the controlled by both Rx and Tx. Usually, Rx is first determined
reflected amplitudes of all unit structures are larger than based on the reflection code, and then Tx is further determined
−0.3dB, as shown in Figure 2e, the metasurface has high according to the required transmission code. Figure 2g,h shows
reflection efficiency in the reflection state. the transmission amplitudes and phases of x-polarized waves

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Figure 5. The photograph of the proposed R-T reconfigurable digital coding metasurface. a) The photograph of the first and second layers. b) The
photograph of the fourth, fifth, and sixth layers. c,d) The front and back views of the control layer.

(Ex) varied with Ry and Ty when the PIN diode on back side is in order to obtain the maximum phase modulation freedom
OFF. The results show that the x-polarized waves can completely for both reflection and transmission waves, as well as the sim-
pass through the metasurface, and their transmitted amplitudes plicity of parameter optimization, two same reflection phase
and phases are also not affected by the change of both Ry and coding layers (the first and second layers) and three same trans-
Ty. However, when Rx and Tx change, the x-polarized waves still mission phase coding layers (the fourth, fifth and sixth layers)
can efficiently pass through the metasurface around 8.9 GHz, are finally selected in this design, and only the 1-bit reflection
as shown in Figure 2i, but their transmission phases are sen- code and transmission code are adopted in the design.
sitive to the change of both Rx and Tx, as shown in Figure 2j, The designed R-T reconfigurable coding metasurface is com-
in which Tx = 6 mm (or 2 mm) (code “0”) and 7.5 mm (or posed of 21 × 21 unit elements. When all the PIN diodes are
7.46 mm) (code “1”) are selected, respectively, when Rx is fixed as ON, the metasurface works in reflection state, and the reflected
7.34 mm (or 7.59 mm), to achieve 180° transmission phase dif- waves can be controlled by the reflection coding sequence. To
ference around 8.9 GHz, and then the 1-bit transmission codes construct random reflection coding sequence, the metasur-
also can be constructed for the x-polarized waves. It should be face is divided into 7 × 7 super unit cells, in which each super
pointed out that the transmitted amplitudes of unit structures unit cell is composed of neighbouring 3 × 3 unit elements,
are not as much high as reflections, but they are almost larger and the final random coding sequence is shown in Figure 3a,
than −3dB, which means the transmission efficiency is at least which is the same for both x- and y-polarized waves. According
larger than 50%. In addition, because the unit structure is 90° to the knowledge of digital coding metasurface,[29] when the
rotational symmetry around the z axis, it can be easily known metasurface is encoded randomly, the reflected EM waves will
that for y-polarized waves, the metasurface almost has the same be randomly diffused to achieve low backward RCS. Figure 3b,c
phase manipulation as the x-polarized waves, whose reflection demonstrates the simulated 3D far-field radiation patterns of
and transmission codes can be achieved by adjusting Ry and Ty. x- and y-polarized reflected waves at 8.9 GHz. Compared to the
Hence, the proposed metasurface is completely anisotropic, and perfect electric conductor (PEC), as shown in Figure 3d, the
the x- and y-polarized waves can be independently controlled backward RCS of the designed metasurface can be greatly sup-
by Rx, Tx and Ry, Ty, respectively. It is worth mentioning that, pressed due to the random diffusion of reflected waves, which

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Figure 6. The experimental results of the proposed metasurface. a) The measured 2D far-field radiation patterns of x- and y-polarized waves, respec-
tively, when the metasurface works in reflection state. b–d) The near-field measured results of the holographic images under b) the correct OAM mode
decryption (lx = +1, ly = −1) and c,d) wrong OAM mode decryptions (lx = −1, ly = +1 and lx = 0, ly = 0), respectively.

also can be intuitively observed from the simulated 2D far- helical phase. It should be noted that the holographic phases
field radiation patterns of E planes and H planes, as shown in are obtained by using weighted Gerchberg–Saxton algorithm,[48]
Figure 3e,f, respectively. Both backward RCSs of main beams and the focal plane of the images is designed 100 mm away
are reduced at least 10dB for both x- and y-polarized waves from the metasurface. Hence, the predesigned real images
compared to PEC. (three focal points for x-polarized waves and two focal points
When all the PIN diodes are OFF, the incident EM waves can for y-polarized waves) can be recovered only when the metasur-
pass through the metasurface efficiently, and be further tailored face is illuminated by the OAM beams with topological charges
by the transmission coding sequence. Here, the OAM encrypted lx = +1 and ly = −1, respectively, as shown in Figure 4b. How-
holographic images of three and two focal points for x- and ever, when the metasurface is illuminated by any other incident
y-polarized waves are realized, respectively. Figure 4a shows waves with wrong mode, only the messy near-field images can
the 1-bit transmission coding sequences of the metasurface be achieved, as shown in Figure 4c,d, in which Figure 4c shows
for x- and y-polarized waves, respectively, which are obtained the results that the metasurface is illuminated by the OAM
by superposition of holographic phases and encrypted OAM beams but with wrong topological charges of lx = −1 and ly = +1,
helical phases. For x-polarized waves, its 1-bit integration phase respectively, and Figure 4d shows the results that the metasur-
is optimized from the superposition of holographic phase of face is illuminated by the incident waves without carrying OAM
three focal points and l = −1 OAM helical phase. For y-polarized topological charges (lx = 0 and ly = 0). The OAM incident waves
waves, its 1-bit integration phase is optimized from the superpo- with topological charges of l = ±1are generated by using an ani-
sition of holographic phase of two focal points and l = +1 OAM sotropic transmissive metasurface fed by a waveguide feeding

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Figure 7. The experimental setups. a) The far-field measurement setup. b) The near-field measurement setup.

source. The distances between the waveguide feed and OAM the metasurface is illuminated by the OAM waves with cor-
metasurface is 100 mm, and the proposed R-T reconfigurable rect topological charges of lx = +1 and ly = −1, or the images
digital coding metasurface is places 300 mm away from OAM will be messy that cannot see any useful information. Because
metasurface. Figure 4e shows the calculated results of prede- the perfect OAM incident waves are adopted in theoretical cal-
signed images for both x- and y-polarized waves. Figure 4f–h culations, while the OAM incident waves in simulations are
are the simulated results of images corresponding to the cases obtained by using a designed OAM metasurface, which is dif-
shown in Figure 4b–d, respectively. The results further verify ficult to produce perfect OAM incident waves like those used in
that the real holographic images can be recovered only when theoretical calculations, so there is a slight difference between

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Figure 8. The unit cell and simulated near field phase distributions of OAM metasurface. a) The structure of OAM metasurface unit cell. b) The simu-
lated transmission amplitudes and phases of the OAM metasurface unit cell with Ly = 3 mm and Ly = 7.3 mm, respectively. c) The simulated phase dis-
tributions at distance of 300 mm of x- and y-polarization channels at 8.9 GHz, respectively.

the simulated and calculated holographic images as shown in to construct the 1-bit transmission coding sequences required
Figure 4e,f. by holographic images for x- and y-polarized waves as shown
in Figure 4a. The front and back views of the control layer are
shown in Figure 5c,d, which are loaded with PIN diodes in ver-
3. Experimental Verification tical and horizontal directions, respectively. All the PIN diodes
are connected to a bias voltage source through an anode feeder
Figure 5 shows the photographs of the fabricated R-T reconfig- line and a cathode feeder line, when the bias voltage is set to
urable digital coding metasurface, which is composed of 21 × 21 Vbias = 1.35 V and 0, the PIN diodes work in ON and OFF states,
unit cells with dimension of 168 × 168 mm2. The photograph respectively. The experimental results of the proposed metasur-
of the first and second layers is shown in Figure 5a, the aniso- face are shown in Figure 6. Figure 6a shows the measured far-
tropic I-shaped unit structures are used to construct the 1-bit field radiation patterns at 8.9 GHz when the metasurface works
random reflection coding sequence as shown in Figure 3a. in reflection state as the bias voltage is set to Vbias = 1.35 V.
The photograph of the fourth, fifth and sixth layers is shown The results show that the backward RCSs of x- and y-polarized
in Figure 5b, the anisotropic I-shaped unit structures are used waves are 10 dB lower than that of PEC reflection, which are

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Figure 9. The experimental measurements of the OAM metasurface. a) The near-field measurement setup of the OAM metasurface. b) The photograph
of the OAM metasurface entity. c,d) The measured phase distributions at distance of 300 mm of x- and y-polarization channels of the OAM metasurface
at 8.9 GHz respectively.

consistent very well with the simulation results in Figure 3. R-T reconfigurable metasurface with integrated functions of
Figure 6b-d shows the measured near-field electric field EM diffusion in reflection state and encryption holography
distributions of x- and y-polarized waves at 8.9 GHz under the in transmission state is designed, simulated and measured,
OAM incidence with different topological charges. The results showing a good performance in both backward RCS reduction
show that the predesigned real images can be recovered only and OAM encrypted holographic images. The proposed R-T
by using OAM incidence with correct topological charges of reconfigurable metasurface has powerful ability in manipula-
lx = +1 for x-polarized waves and ly = −1 for y-polarized waves, tion of both reflection and transmission EM waves, which may
respectively, as shown in Figure 6b. Otherwise, only the messy have potential application in improving the EM communication
images can be achieved by using the other incident waves, such security in the complex EM environment. In addition, if the
as the OAM incident wave with topological charges of lx = −1 passive phase coding layers are also designed to be reconfig-
and ly = +1 as shown in Figure 6c, and a plane wave without car- urable or programmable, the more complicated phase manipu-
rying topological charges as shown in Figure 6d. The measured lations can be achieved, and the metasurface will show more
holographic images also have a good agreement with the simu- powerful capacity in EM manipulation. Not only the transmis-
lation results in Figure 4. sion waves when it works in transmission state, but also the
reflection waves reflected by both sides of metasurface when it
works in reflection state can be independently and real-timely
4. Conclusion manipulated.

We have presented an R-T reconfigurable digital coding metas-

urface loaded with electronically controlled PIN diodes, which
5. Experimental Section
can be controlled to switch flexibly between the reflection and
transmission working states by the bias voltage. In addition, Far-Field Measurement: Figure 7a shows the experimental setup for
the metasurface is completely anisotropic, capable of inde- measuring the far-field radiation patterns, the metasurface is placed on
a rotational platform together with a rectangular waveguide feed, and
pendently controlling x- and y-polarized waves, and also can
the distance between the rectangular waveguide feed and metasurface
independently design the reflection and transmission coding is 1.5m to satisfy the far-field condition, so that the incident waves can
sequences, so it can have completely different functions in be treated as plane waves when illuminated to the metasurface. A power
reflection and transmission states. As a proof of concept, an source is placed behind the metasurface to provide the desired bias

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