Directional terahertz holography with thermally active Janus metasurface

Benwen Chen; Shengxin Yang; Jian Chen; Jingbo Wu; Ke Chen; Weili Li; Yihui Tan; Zhaosong Wang; Hongsong Qiu; Kebin Fan; Caihong Zhang; Huabing Wang; Yijun Feng; Yunbin He; Biaobing Jin; Xinglong Wu; Jian Chen; Peiheng Wu

doi:10.1038/s41377-023-01177-4

Directional terahertz holography with thermally active Janus metasurface

Light Sci Appl. 2023 Jun 5;12(1):136. doi: 10.1038/s41377-023-01177-4.

Authors

Benwen Chen^{1

2}, Shengxin Yang¹, Jian Chen³, Jingbo Wu^{4

5}, Ke Chen⁶, Weili Li^{1

2}, Yihui Tan¹, Zhaosong Wang¹, Hongsong Qiu¹, Kebin Fan^{1

2}, Caihong Zhang^{1

2}, Huabing Wang^{1

2}, Yijun Feng⁷, Yunbin He⁸, Biaobing Jin^{9

10}, Xinglong Wu¹¹, Jian Chen^{1

2}, Peiheng Wu^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Research Institute of Superconductor Electronics (RISE), School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China.
² Purple Mountain Laboratories, Nanjing, 211111, China.
³ Ministry-of-Education Key Laboratory for the Green Preparation and Application of Functional Materials, Hubei Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hubei University, Wuhan, 430062, China.
⁴ Research Institute of Superconductor Electronics (RISE), School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China. jbwu@nju.edu.cn.
⁵ Purple Mountain Laboratories, Nanjing, 211111, China. jbwu@nju.edu.cn.
⁶ School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China. ke.chen@nju.edu.cn.
⁷ School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China.
⁸ Ministry-of-Education Key Laboratory for the Green Preparation and Application of Functional Materials, Hubei Key Laboratory of Polymer Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hubei University, Wuhan, 430062, China. ybhe@hubu.edu.cn.
⁹ Research Institute of Superconductor Electronics (RISE), School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China. bbjin@nju.edu.cn.
¹⁰ Purple Mountain Laboratories, Nanjing, 211111, China. bbjin@nju.edu.cn.
¹¹ National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures and School of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, China.

Abstract

Dynamic manipulation of electromagnetic (EM) waves with multiple degrees of freedom plays an essential role in enhancing information processing. Currently, an enormous challenge is to realize directional terahertz (THz) holography. Recently, it was demonstrated that Janus metasurfaces could produce distinct responses to EM waves from two opposite incident directions, making multiplexed dynamic manipulation of THz waves possible. Herein, we show that thermally activated THz Janus metasurfaces integrating with phase change materials on the meta-atoms can produce asymmetric transmission with the designed phase delays. Such reconfigurable Janus metasurfaces can achieve asymmetric focusing of THz wave and directional THz holography with free-space image projections, and particularly the information can be manipulated via temperature and incident THz wave direction. This work not only offers a common strategy for realizing the reconfigurability of Janus metasurfaces, but also shows possible applications in THz optical information encryption, data storage, and smart windows.

Abstract

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