Reconfigurable Generation of Terahertz Spiral Vector Beams Based on All-Dielectric Cascaded Metasurfaces

Abstract

The reconfigurable generation of complex structured terahertz (THz) fields, and vector beams in particular, remains a significant challenge. Here, we propose a novel all-dielectric cascaded-metasurface scheme for the reconfigurable generation of THz spiral vector beams. By combining an isotropic phase-compensation layer with an anisotropic circular-polarization-sensitive layer, together with a new phase design tailored to spiral beams, we achieve independent control of the left- and right-handed circularly polarized (LCP and RCP) components through the relative rotation angle between the two layers. Under linearly polarized THz wave illumination, THz vector beams with switchable spiral numbers of 1-3 and reversible circular-polarization handedness are demonstrated at frequencies around 0.9 THz. Moreover, owing to the longitudinal evolution characteristic of spiral beams, the three generated THz vector beams exhibit azimuthal rotations of 279.9°, 125.7° and 75.5°, respectively, along the propagation direction. Such complex THz vector beams, which combine reconfigurability with longitudinal evolution, are expected to find applications in emerging fields such as next-generation wireless communications and THz imaging. The proposed generation scheme also offers a useful reference for the reconfigurable generation of high-dimensional vector beams.