Invention Grant
- Patent Title: Reconfigurable metasurface with tunable antennas formed from arrays of pixels of an optically tunable material
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Application No.: US16541860Application Date: 2019-08-15
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Publication No.: US11314108B2Publication Date: 2022-04-26
- Inventor: Abram L. Falk , Jessie Carrigan Rosenberg , Kafai Lai , Damon Brooks Farmer
- Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
- Applicant Address: US NY Armonk
- Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
- Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
- Current Assignee Address: US NY Armonk
- Agency: Ryan, Mason & Lewis, LLP
- Agent Stosch Sabo
- Main IPC: H01Q9/04
- IPC: H01Q9/04 ; G02F1/01 ; H01Q3/44 ; H01Q3/30 ; H01Q3/01

Abstract:
An apparatus includes two or more tunable antennas providing a reconfigurable metasurface, each of the tunable antennas including a plurality of pixels of optically tunable material, and a control circuit including switches providing current sources and a ground voltage, the switches being coupled to respective ones of the pixels of optically tunable material in each of the tunable antennas via first electrodes, the ground voltage being coupled to respective ones of the pixels of optically tunable material in each of the tunable antennas via second electrodes. The control circuit is configured to modify states of respective ones of the plurality of pixels of optically tunable material in the tunable antennas utilizing current supplied between the first electrodes and the second electrodes to adjust reflectivity of the plurality of pixels of optically tunable material in each of the tunable antennas to dynamically reconfigure respective antenna shape configurations of the tunable antennas.
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