Optically Controlled Reconfigurable Holographic Metasurfaces for Electronic Beam Steering

This paper presents the design of an electronic beamformer based on a reconfigurable holographic metasurface (RHMS) and a novel optical-driven biasing circuitry (ODBC). The proposed RHMS enables low-profile, low-cost beamforming across sub-6 GHz and higher frequencies. By implementing a holographic metasurface composed of reconfigurable subwavelength elements and exciting surface waves across the aperture, we achieve precise beam control with a simple feed structure. Instead of employing a complex wired control network, we wirelessly activate the metasurface with infrared light. The RHMS uses a scalable 23 × 23 array of 528 elements (3.9λ × 3.9λ) fabricated with PCB technology and operating near 6 GHz. We present the radiation measurements with electronic beam steering in elevation planes from +/-50°for both E/H plane and vertical/horizontal polarization with the side lobe level (SLL) of <-10dB. The proposed topology can serve integrated communications and sensing applications (ISAC) where electronic beam control is desirable.