Smart Metasurface for Active and Passive Cooperative Manipulation of Electromagnetic Waves

Integrating active and passive manipulation of electromagnetic (EM) waves has significant advantages for the caliber synthesis of microwave and optical integrated devices. In previous schemes, most reported designs focus only on active ways of manipulating self-radiating EM waves, such as antennas and lasers, or passive ways of manipulating external incident EM waves, such as lenses and photonic crystals. Here, we proposed a paradigm that integrates active and passive manipulation of EM waves in a reconfigurable way. As demonstrated, circularly polarized, linearly polarized, and elliptically polarized waves with customized beams are achieved in passive operation by merging Pancharatnam–Berry phases and dynamic phases, while the radiating EM waves with a customized gain are achieved by coupling the coding elements with the radiation structure in the active manipulation. Either active or passive manipulation is determined by the sensed signals and operating state to reduce detectability. Encouragingly, the proposed strategy will excite new sensing and communication opportunities, enabling advanced conceptions for next-generation compact EM devices.