Reconfigurable and broadband analog computing with terahertz metasurface based on electrical tuning of vanadium-dioxide resonators

A architecture of reconfigurable analog computing devices is proposed for image processing and advanced wireless communication systems, such as those required for self-driving cars. This architecture is designed to work in the terahertz frequency range, and it is based on a metasurface made of VO2 brick resonators as metaatoms. The system is capable of performing first-order and second-order derivative, or it may act as a mirror for impinging signals in a broad range of terahertz frequencies. The reconfigurability between these functions is achieved by tuning the temperature of the VO2 resonators, which can be switched between the metallic and the insulator state with an electric current passed through a back metal layer. Following this approach, we present two dynamically controlled metasurfaces, one designed in k-space and the other in real-space.