Transformable Metasurfaces Enabled by Twisting Induced Nonlocality

Abstract

AbstractReconfigurable optical interfaces with low power cost are of tremendous interest in imaging and communication applications. This work reveals the nonlocal effect in twisted electric dipoles and demonstrates its capability of non‐volatile transformation on scattering. When electric dipoles are rotated to form a tilted array, the dipolar resonances yield nonlocal interactions tuned by the rotation angle. The collective polarizability transformation maps to a series of circles crossing the origin of coordinates in the complex plane, providing 2π phase coverage and continuous amplitude modulation beyond the theoretical limit of an electric surface. Based on this mechanism, a Bluetooth‐driven nonlocal metasurface is developed for remote switching on scattering channels. Due to the stability of mechanical deformation, the twisted metasurface retains the stored functionality even after the power is removed. Our results offer a nonlocal route to transformable planar optics.