Characterization of optically-reconfigurable metasurfaces by a free space microwave bistatic technique

Abstract

Microwave performance extraction of optically-controlled squared frequency-selective surface (FSS) structures printed on highly resistive (HR) silicon substrate are presented, from a innovative bistatic microwave photonic characterization technique operating in the 40 to 60 GHz frequency range, commonly used for radar cross section (RCS) measurements. According to typical physical photon absorption phenomenon occurring in photoconductive materials, these structures demonstrate experimentally a bandpass filtering frequency response cancellation through reflection coefficient measurements, under specific incident collective illumination in the Near-infrared region (NIR). This behaviour is attributed to their microwave surface impedance modification accordingly to the incident optical power, allowing ultrafast reconfigurability of such devices by optics.