A Broadband Metasurface for Effective Control of Transmission Phase by Applied Voltage

Authors

  • Zhen Wang Department of Electronic Science and Technology, Tongji University Shanghai 201804, China
  • Ajay K. Poddar Synergy Microwave Corporation, 201 McLean Boulevard, Paterson, NJ 07504, USA
  • Ulrich L. Rohde Synergy Microwave Corporation, 201 McLean Boulevard, Paterson, NJ 07504, USA
  • Mei Song Tong Department of Electronic Science and Technology, Tongji University Shanghai 201804, China

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.13052/2025.ACES.J.401004

Keywords:

Active metasurface, transmission phase, varactor tuning

Abstract

This paper presents a reconfigurable transmissive metasurface operating at 8.5 GHz. The metasurface consists of a four-layer stacked structure of circular radiating patches, with varactor diodes integrated into the patches to achieve 360∘ continuous transmission phase control. The structure exhibits a transmission loss of less than 2 dB and a relative bandwidth of approximately 12%. By tuning the capacitance of the varactor diodes, the transmission phase can be precisely and continuously adjusted. Compared to switch-diode-based metasurfaces, this approach offers a simpler design and enables dynamic continuous phase modulation. Both simulation and measurement results, including the relationship between transmission magnitude and phase shift versus bias voltage, show strong agreement. The metasurface demonstrates excellent bandwidth characteristics. This work provides a valuable strategy for designing dynamically tunable broadband metasurfaces and holds significant potential for applications in high-gain phased array antennas and efficient beamforming systems.

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Author Biographies

Zhen Wang, Department of Electronic Science and Technology, Tongji University Shanghai 201804, China

Zhen Wang received the B.S. degree in Communications and Information Engineering from Qingdao University, Qingdao, China, in 2017, and the M.S. degree in Electronic and Information Engineering from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC), Chengdu, China, in 2020. He is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in Electronic and Information Engineering at Tongji University, Shanghai, China. His research interests include phased arrays, metasurfaces, millimeter-wave antennas, and computational electromagnetics.

Ajay K. Poddar, Synergy Microwave Corporation, 201 McLean Boulevard, Paterson, NJ 07504, USA

Ajay K. Poddar is an IEEE Fellow and a member of IEEE Eta Kappa Nu, recognized worldwide for his pioneering contributions to electrical engineering, electronics, and communications. He earned his graduate degree from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, India, followed by a Doctorate (Dr.-Ing.) from the Technical University of Berlin, Germany, and a Post-Doctorate (Dr.-Ing. habil.) from Brandenburg Technical University Cottbus, Germany. Dr. Poddar currently serves as Chief Scientist at Synergy Microwave Corporation, New Jersey, USA, where he leads cutting-edge research in signal generation and processing electronics, RF-MEMS, antennas, and metamaterial-based resonators and sensors for present and future communication and electronic systems. His innovations have enabled advancements in industrial, medical, and aerospace applications, integrating AI-inspired electronic architectures to enhance system performance, efficiency, and reliability. Earlier in his career, Dr. Poddar served as a Senior Scientist and Program Director at India’s Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) under the Ministry of Defense (1991–2001). During that tenure, he also held the position of Visiting Professor at the University of Pune, contributing to advanced research and technology development in defense electronics. Beyond industry, Dr. Poddar is deeply involved in academia. He serves as a Visiting Professor at the University of Oradea (UO), Romania, and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jammu, India, as well as a Guest Lecturer at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany. Through his teaching and mentorship, he continues to inspire students and researchers worldwide to pursue innovation in the service of humanity. Dr. Poddar’s exceptional career has been recognized with numerous prestigious awards, including the 2025 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society Outstanding Service Award, the 2023 RCA Armstrong Medal Award, the 2018 IEEE MGA Innovation Award, the 2015 IEEE IFCS W.G. Cady Award, the 2015 IEEE Region 1 Scientific Innovation Award, and the 2009 IEEE Region 1 Scientific Contributions Award. He is the author or co-author of over 400 research publications in international journals, magazines, and conference proceedings, and has contributed to six technical books and book chapters. He holds more than 50 patents for his scientific and technological innovations and has supervised numerous graduate and Ph.D. students across the globe. Additionally, he has served as editor and reviewer for several leading technical journals. Dr. Poddar is actively engaged in professional societies and global initiatives addressing key technological challenges in green and renewable energy, decarbonization, metamaterial-based environmental sensors, and solid-state high-current density batteries. His portrait was featured on the cover of Microwave Journal (November 2011), where he was profiled as one of the “Divine Innovators” in the article “Divine Innovation: 10 Technologies Changing the Future of Passive and Control Components.”

Ulrich L. Rohde, Synergy Microwave Corporation, 201 McLean Boulevard, Paterson, NJ 07504, USA

Ulrich L. Rohde is a Partner of Rohde & Schwarz, Munich Germany; Chairman of Synergy Microwave Corp., Paterson, New Jersey; President of Communications Consulting Corporation; serving as an honorary member of the Senate of the University of the Armed Forces Munich, Germany honorary member of the Senate of the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus–Senftenberg, Germany.

Dr. Rohde is serving as a full Professor of Radio and Microwave Theory and Techniques at the University of Oradea and several other universities worldwide, to name a few: Honorary Professor IIT-Delhi, Honorary Chair Professor IIT-Jammu, Professor at the University of Oradea for microwave technology, an honorary professor at the BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg University of Technology, and professor at the German Armed Forces University Munich (Technical Informatics).

Rohde has published 400+ scientific papers, co-authored over dozen books, with John Wiley and Springer, and holds 50 plus patents; received several awards, to name a few recent awards: recipient of 2023 IEEE Communications Society Distinguished Industry Leader Award, 2023 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society Distinguished Industry Leader Award, 2022 IEEE Photonics Society Engineering Achievement Award, 2021 Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, 2020 IEEE Region 1 Technological Innovation Award, 2019 IETE Fellow Award, 2019 IEEE CAS Industrial Pioneer Award; 2017 RCA Lifetime achievement award, 2017 IEEE-Cady Award, 2017 IEEE AP-S Distinguish achievement award, 2017 Wireless Innovation Forum Leadership Award, 2016 IEEE MTT-S Applications Award, 2015 IEEE-Rabi Award, 2015 IEEE Region-1 Award, and 2014 IEEE-Sawyer Award.

Dr. Ulrich Rohde is the recipient of the 2021 Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, also known as the Federal Cross of Merit, the highest tribute the Federal Republic of Germany can pay to individuals for services to the nation. In December 2022, The Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) inducted Dr. Ulrich Rohde as a fellow during ceremonies for “outstanding contributions to engineering and also your dynamic leadership in the engineering domain, which has immensely contributed to the faster development of the country.” Dr. Rohde is only the third foreign fellow elected by the INAE, preceded by Dr. Jeffrey Wineland, who won a Nobel Prize in Physics.

Mei Song Tong, Department of Electronic Science and Technology, Tongji University Shanghai 201804, China

Mei Song Tong received the B.S. and M.S. degrees from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China, respectively, and Ph.D. degree from Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA, all in electrical engineering. He is currently a Humboldt Awardee Professor in the Chair of High-Frequency Engineering, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany, and is on leave from the Distinguished/Permanent Professor and Head of Department of Electronic Science and Technology, and Vice Dean of College of Microelectronics, Tongji University, Shanghai, China. He has also held an adjunct professorship at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA, and an honorary professorship at the University of Hong Kong, China. He has published more than 700 papers in refereed journals and conference proceedings and co-authored eight books or book chapters. His research interests include electromagnetic field theory, antenna theory and technique, modeling and simulation of RF/microwave circuits and devices, interconnect and packaging analysis, inverse electromagnetic scattering for imaging, and computational electromagnetics.

Prof. Tong is a Fellow of the Electromagnetics Academy, Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), and Senior Member (Commission B) of the USNC/URSI. He has been the chair of Shanghai Chapter since 2014 and the chair of SIGHT committee in 2018, respectively, in IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society. He has served as an associate editor or guest editor for several well-known international journals, including IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, IEEE Transactions on Components, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology, International Journal of Numerical Modeling: Electronic Networks, Devices and Fields, Progress in Electromagnetics Research, and Journal of Electromagnetic Waves and Applications. He also frequently served as a session organizer/chair, technical program committee member/chair, and general chair for some prestigious international conferences. He was the recipient of a Visiting Professorship Award from Kyoto University, Japan, in 2012, and from University of Hong Kong, China, 2013. He advised and coauthored 15 papers that received the Best Student Paper Award from different international conferences. He was the recipient of the Travel Fellowship Award of USNC/URSI for the 31th General Assembly and Scientific Symposium (GASS) in 2014, Advance Award of Science and Technology of Shanghai Municipal Government in 2015, Fellowship Award of JSPS in 2016, Innovation Award of Universities’ Achievements of Ministry of Education of China in 2017, Innovation Achievement Award of Industry-Academia-Research Collaboration of China in 2019, “Jinqiao” Award of Technology Market Association of China in 2020, Baosteel Education Award of China in 2021, Carl Friedrich von Siemens Research Award of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany in 2023, and Technical Achievement Award of Applied Computational Electromagnetic Society (ACES) of USA in 2024. In 2018, he was selected as the Distinguished Lecturer (DL) of IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society for 2019-2022, and in 2025, he was selected to the Top 2% Scientists List for both Career-Long Impact and Single-Year Impact by ELSEVIER and Stanford University.

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Published

2025-10-30

How to Cite

[1]
Z. . Wang, A. K. . Poddar, U. L. . Rohde, and M. S. . Tong, “A Broadband Metasurface for Effective Control of Transmission Phase by Applied Voltage”, ACES Journal, vol. 40, no. 10, pp. 993–1001, Oct. 2025.

Issue

2025: Vol 40 Iss 10

Section

General Submission

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