Broadband phase-modulated metasurface based on vanadium dioxide patches in microwave band

Phase-modulated metasurfaces (PMMs) have attracted considerable attention because of their widespread application in many fields. However, the most existing PMMs are only available in a relatively narrow band. In this paper, we propose a design of a broadband PMM based on vanadium dioxide (VO2) patches. The unit cell of the proposed PMM is composed of a surface layer supported by a 0.5 mm F4B with a dielectric constant of εr = 2.65, and a dielectric layer with a metal ground on its back. The surface layer consists of two opposite T-shaped metal patches connected by a VO2 patch. The VO2 patch can be used as an active element due to the insulator-to-metal transition of VO2. The process of phase transition is achieved by direct heating with a heating plate, without additional feeders affecting the performance of the PMM. The designed PMM can achieve a broadband phase difference within 180° ± 37° from 6.94 to 20.84 GHz, with a fractional bandwidth of 100%. Both full wave simulation and measurement results show that the proposed metasurface presents a good phase reconstruction performance over a wideband frequency range.