Electronically reconfigurable unit cell for transmit-reflect-arrays in the X-band

This paper proposes an electronically reconfigurable unit cell for transmit-reflect-arrays in the X-band, which makes it possible to control the reflection or transmission phase independently by combining the mechanisms of reconfigurable transmitarrays and reconfigurable reflectarrays. The fabricated unit cell was characterized in a waveguide simulator. The return loss in the reflection mode and insertion loss in the transmission mode are smaller than 1.8 dB for all states at 10.63 GHz, and a 1-bit phase shift for both modes is achieved within 180 degrees +/- 10 degrees. When compared to full-wave electromagnetic simulation results, the proposed unit cell shows good results and is thus verified. (C) 2021 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement