Light-driven Modulation of 1-bit Metamaterial Unit Cells and Arrays
Abstract
Shape-morphing materials have the potential to realise simple, tunable telecommunication arrays without the need for complex circuitry. However, existing devices either lack individual cell control, or require an integrated power supply, reducing their beamsteering ability and increasing size, weight and power consumption. This paper presents a simple, photothermally activated 1-bit reflectarray unit cell requiring no integrated power sources. The unit cell consists of dimer elements, which are connected or disconnected via a photothermally activated electrical bridge to achieve modulation. The paper discusses the shape memory materials used for switching, and presents a design for a photothermal switching mechanism. The unit cell is validated by waveguide experiments, showing strong agreement with simulations at the working frequency of 3.7GHz. Finally, a 4-cell array is created. Each cell is activated sequentially, with good agreement between simulation and experiment, demonstrating the ability to control each cell exclusively. This study therefore demonstrates that a 1-bit unit cell can be photothermally configured without complicated electronics or an integrated power supply, opening the door to a new class of shape-morphing reflectarray.
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BibTeX
@misc{scott2026lightdriven,
title = {{Light-driven Modulation of 1-bit Metamaterial Unit Cells and Arrays}},
author = {Benjamin A Scott and Kieran J Cowan and Fraser Burton and Ken E Evans and Alexander W Powell},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.39516},
eprint = {2609.39516},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.39516},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Light-driven Modulation of 1-bit Metamaterial Unit Cells and Arrays
AU - Benjamin A Scott
AU - Kieran J Cowan
AU - Fraser Burton
AU - Ken E Evans
AU - Alexander W Powell
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/30
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.39516
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.39516
AB - Shape-morphing materials have the potential to realise simple, tunable telecommunication arrays without the need for complex circuitry. However, existing devices either lack individual cell control, or require an integrated power supply, reducing their beamsteering ability and increasing size, weight and power consumption. This paper presents a simple, photothermally activated 1-bit reflectarray unit cell requiring no integrated power sources. The unit cell consists of dimer elements, which are connected or disconnected via a photothermally activated electrical bridge to achieve modulation. The paper discusses the shape memory materials used for switching, and presents a design for a photothermal switching mechanism. The unit cell is validated by waveguide experiments, showing strong agreement with simulations at the working frequency of 3.7GHz. Finally, a 4-cell array is created. Each cell is activated sequentially, with good agreement between simulation and experiment, demonstrating the ability to control each cell exclusively. This study therefore demonstrates that a 1-bit unit cell can be photothermally configured without complicated electronics or an integrated power supply, opening the door to a new class of shape-morphing reflectarray.
ER -