Perfect Electromagnetic Teleporting Metasurface Wormholes

超曲面在当今的电磁工程和无线通信研究中得到了广泛的应用。超表面是由“超原子”组成的二维排列，其工作原理与长波长照明下的普通光-物质相互作用基本相同。例如，当波长在数百纳米量级的光学光与构成桌子表面的原子相互作用时，由于入射波长比原子的宽度长数千倍，因此只能感知到原子集合的平均响应(我们看到的是桌子，而不是原子)。通过设计由设计者设计的比入射波长至少小十倍的准原子组成的材料，可以设计出光与物质的相互作用，从而产生新的波前控制和电磁现象。然而，这些变形曲面中的大多数是平面的。随着5G/6G通信标准的发展，用于通道优化的元面也需要是共形的。在密集的城市环境中，新的高频通信频率的绕射强度降低，可以将电磁能量传递到建筑物角落的共形变形表面被证明是有用的。在这项工作中，变形表面被设计成在空间中创建隧道状的连接，将遥远位置(例如，建筑物的两侧)的两个空间波端口连接起来。这些共形隐形传送变形表面可以用来将电磁波从建筑物拐角的一侧传输到相邻的一侧，使用的变形表面形状为90度弯曲。这样的设备可以使用被动和无损的变形表面来增强5G/6G通信通道，这些变形表面不需要电气连接就可以操作，只需将其粘贴到建筑物上，就像挂一幅画一样。这项研究将通过在弗吉尼亚州布莱克斯堡地区的当地高中创建示范日来影响教育和推广，并通过弗吉尼亚理工大学的新课程和会议上的短期课程传播结果，并吸引本科生参与研究。该项目的主要目标是向研究社区介绍完美的电磁隐形传输元表面，使用这些概念通过在建筑物的角落周围传输电磁能量来优化城市环境中的电信通道，并开发能够支持新的5G/6G通信标准的共形变表面设计方法，其中包括共形可重构智能表面(例如无人机实体)。完美的电磁隐形传送变形表面在太空中创造了隧道状的连接，将遥远位置(例如，建筑物的两侧)的两个空间波端口连接起来。入射平面波场将在端口1被吸收，完美地转换为连接两个端口并在它们之间传输/输送功率的面波，并从位于较远位置的端口2重新辐射。从端口2重新射出的场将被设计成以完全无源和无损的方式利用入射场中包含的所有功率来控制其相位和幅度。由于变表面将入射波中的所有可用能量传送到重新辐射的波，因此这一操作据说是完美的。到目前为止，完美的适形隐形传送变形表面手术还没有得到证实。这项工作将使这些类型的变形表面的首次实验演示成为可能，并无疑将在该领域开辟新的研究潮流，从此以后将出现前所未有的应用。通过将积分方程组与基于加法制造和保形印制电路设计的快速优化技术和新的实现方法相结合，这些设计将成为可能。关于共形亚表面的单胞设计的文献非常稀少，在考察现有文献时，试图用印刷电路实现共形亚表面的人可能找不到合适的方法。因此，这项工作还将为需要设计和实现共形超表面的工程师和科学家提供方法。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Metasurfaces have found ubiquitous use in electromagnetics engineering and wireless communication research today. Metasurfaces are 2D arrangements of ‘meta-atoms’, which operate much under the same principles as ordinary light-matter interaction under long-wavelength illumination. For example, when optical light with a wavelength on the order of hundreds of nanometers interacts with the atoms comprising the surface of a table, since the impinging wavelength is thousands of times longer than the breadth of an atom, only the average response of the collection of atoms is perceived (we see the table, not the atoms). By designing materials comprising of designer ‘meta-atoms’ which are at least ten times smaller than the impinging wavelength, the light-matter interaction can be engineered leading to novel wavefront control and electromagnetic phenomena. Most of these metasurfaces, however, are planar. Coevolving with developing 5G/6G communications standards, metasurfaces used for channel optimization will need to also be conformal. In dense urban environments where diffraction strengths of new high-frequency communication frequencies are reduced, conformal metasurfaces which can route electromagnetic energy around corners of building can prove useful. In this work, metasurfaces are designed to create tunnel-like connections through space connecting two space wave ports at distant locations (on opposite sides of a building for example). These conformal teleporting metasurfaces can be used to transfer electromagnetic waves from one side of a building around its corner to an adjacent side using metasurfaces shaped with a 90-degree bend. Devices like these can enhance 5G/6G communications channels using passive and lossless metasurfaces which require no electrical connections to operate, simply affixed to a building similar to hanging a painting. This research will impact education and outreach by creating demonstration days at local high schools in the Blacksburg, VA area, and disseminating the results through new courses at Virginia Tech and short courses at conferences, and engaging undergraduates in research.The principal objectives of this project are to introduce perfect electromagnetic teleporting metasurfaces to the research community, to use the concepts to optimize telecommunications channels in urban environments by routing electromagnetic energy around corners of buildings, and to develop conformal metasurface design approaches which can support the new 5G/6G communications standards where conformal reconfigurable intelligent surfaces have been included (UAV bodies for example). Perfect electromagnetic teleporting metasurfaces create tunnel-like connections through space connecting two space wave ports at distant locations (on opposite sides of a building for example). The incident plane wave field will be absorbed at port 1, perfectly converted into a surface wave which connects the two ports and transfers/delivers power between them, and reradiated from port 2 located at a distant location. The reradiated field from port 2 will be designed with control over its phase and amplitude utilizing all of the power contained in the incident field in a completely passive and lossless way. As the metasurface teleports all of the available energy in the incident wave to the reradiated wave, the operation is said to be perfect. To date, perfect conformal teleporting metasurface operation has not been demonstrated. This work will enable the first experimental demonstration of these types of metasurfaces and will undoubtedly open up new streams of research in the area with unprecedented applications springing henceforth. The designs will be enabled by coupling integral equations with rapid optimization techniques and novel realization approaches based on additive manufacturing and conformal printed circuit design. literature on unit cell design for conformal metasurfaces is very scarce, and one attempting to realize a conformal metasurface using printed circuits may not find a suitable approach when surveying current literature. Hence, this work will also provide approaches to engineers and scientists who need to design and realize conformal metasurfaces.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.