Realization of an In-Band Reconfigurable Metasurface for Nonreciprocal/Reciprocal Transmission

Reconfigurable nonreciprocal electromagnetic devices are critical communication components in areas such as electromagnetic isolation, co-frequency co-time full-duplex single-antenna communication systems, and reconfigurable signal routing. In this letter, we design a reconfigurable nonreciprocal metasurface by utilizing the gyromagnetic property of ferrite and the switching capability of a diode with four independently reconfigurable operation modes: 1)bidirectional transmission; 2)nonreciprocal transmission(+z); 3)nonreciprocal transmission(−z); and 4) bidirectional blocking. By adjusting the operating states of the diodes, the functions are achieved in the same frequency band and can be freely switched between these functions. Numerical simulations show that the transmission coefficient can achieve about −3 dB, when the metasurface works in the corresponding modes. The experimental results validate the proposed concept, demonstrating that the device successfully fulfills the predesigned functionality. The proposed design delivers fresh insights and mindsets for manipulating EM waves arbitrarily, holding possibilities for applications in electromagnetic isolation, full-duplex single-antenna communication systems, and reconfigurable signal routing.