Broadband Multifunctional Reconfigurable Polarization Conversion Metasurface

• Published in: IEEE transactions on antennas and propagation Vol. 71; no. 7; p. 1
• Main Authors: Yang, Heng, Wang, Shi Cong, Li, Peng, He, Yuan, Zhang, Yun Jing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.07.2023; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Bandwidth; Bandwidths; Broadband; Broadband communication; Conversion ratio; DC biasing network; Inductors; Metasurfaces; Microstrip transmission lines; Phase change materials; PIN diode; PIN diodes; PIN photodiodes; Polarization; Polarization conversion metasurface; reconfigurable; Remote sensing; Switches
• ISSN: 0018-926X; 1558-2221
• DOI: 10.1109/TAP.2023.3266498

In this work, a reflective polarization conversion metasurface (PCM) with symmetrical L-shaped patches is proposed which enables to switch between different polarization modes by PIN diodes, i.e., linear-to-linear (LTL) cross-polarization and linear-to-circular (LTC) polarization. Because of multimodes activated in the structure, the PCM shows an ultrawide bandwidth both for LTL and LTC polarization conversion. A microstrip line-based DC biasing network composed of radial stubs is introduced to isolate RF currents, which can resolve problems raised by RF lumped choke inductors in the ultrawide bandwidth. A prototype with 15 × 15 units is fabricated. The simulated and measured results show that when the PIN diodes are forward biased, the PCM achieves LTC polarization conversion in the range of 5.96-15.34 GHz (relative bandwidth of 88.4%) with the axial ratio (AR) less than 3 dB; when the PIN diodes are reverse biased, the PCM achieves LTL polarization conversion in the range of 6.05-14.76 GHz (relative bandwidth of 83.75%) with the polarization conversion ratio (PCR) higher than 90%. The proposed PCM is expected to be potentially applied to a broad scanning range array, intelligent reflecting surfaces (IRS), and remote sensing.