Terahertz metamaterial beam splitters based on untraditional coding scheme

Terahertz waves have attracted considerable research interest in recent years because of their potential applications in diverse fields. As an important device to control terahertz waves, beam splitters with greater flexibility and higher degrees of freedom are highly desirable. In order to obtain higher degrees of freedom in beam splitting, 2-bit or higher-bit coding elements are usually introduced into metamaterial beam splitters based on the coding theory. In this work, a new “offset” coding scheme using only the 1-bit coding elements of “0” and “1” is presented, and the period of coding for beam splitting can be a non-integer multiple of the length of a single unit rather than only its integer multiples. Therefore, more beam-splitting degrees of freedom can be obtained, and the design strategy is experimentally verified. We believe that the new coding scheme will also be of significance in radar cross section reduction and flexible wave control.