Frequency-multiplexed multifunctional metasurfaces enabling independent control of SPWs and SWs

Electromagnetic metasurfaces have attracted considerable attention due to their exceptional wavefront manipulation capabilities. However, existing metasurfaces can only manipulate single-mode electromagnetic wave—either spatially propagating waves (SPWs) or surface waves (SWs), making them difficult to meet the urgent demand for multifunctional integrated devices in modern communication systems. To address this issue, we propose multifunctional frequency-multiplexed metasurfaces, which can control both SPWs and SWs at distinct frequency bands in the same metasurface. Two multifunctional metasurfaces are implemented in this work. One metasurface can work as a single-feed leaky-wave antenna (LWA) and circularly polarized waves conversion device, and another metasurface is capable of a dual-feed LWA and a circular-to-linear polarization conversion device. These two metasurfaces can both achieve directional leakage radiation of SWs at S-band and polarization conversion of SPWs at X-band, enabling independent control of SWs and SPWs at the different frequency range. The present results provide a multifunctional integrated platform for the applications of 5G communications, intelligent radar, remote sensing monitoring, and wireless energy transfer.