Metasurface.ir · Chapter 1

Can a sheet change phase without reflecting?

Explore an analytical, lossless sheet with two response channels. This model has no assigned geometry and does not run a full-wave solver.

What is this model?

1. Set the experiment

Electric-like resonance stays at 200 THz. The strengths are ideal dimensionless channel parameters, not material constants or retrieved dipole moments.

Reflected power
Transmitted power
Phase of t

Orange: R · Teal: T

2. Inspect complex transmission

Teal: transmission t · Orange: reflection r. The dashed circle has unit field amplitude. Equal exterior impedances make squared field ratios equal the specular power fractions.

CoefficientReal partImaginary part

3. Interpret the result

Perfect matching over an entire frequency sweep is imposed when the two channels are identical. It is not evidence for a real broadband, lossless metasurface.

Assumptions: normal incidence; equal real impedance on both sides; one polarization; only specular reflection/transmission; reciprocal mirror-symmetric sheet; no absorption, diffraction, polarization conversion, geometry, or experiment. Time dependence exp(−iωt); both reference planes are at the ideal sheet.