Memristive crossbar architecture for programmable and scalable terahertz metasurface
Abstract Programmable terahertz (THz) metasurfaces have emerged as a versatile platform for dynamic wavefront control, offering possibilities for high-capacity wireless communication and advanced sensing. Realizing full wavefront control requires scaling to large-format arrays with pixel-level reconfigurability, but this is fundamentally limited by inter-pixel crosstalk and the increasing complexity of electrical interconnections. Here, we present a scalable, pixel-level programmable metasurface addressing architecture inspired by the crossbar architecture of memristor arrays, and implement it in the THz regime. By integrating VO 2 -based snapback selectors, this design effectively suppresses sneak path currents, allowing low-crosstalk addressing of each pixel. A modular row-column tiling scheme facilitates scaling to large arrays while preserving per-pixel programmability. We further demonstrate independent two-dimensional phase modulation and non-volatile THz beam steering. This work provides a theoretical framework and design paradigm for a versatile and scalable photonic platform spanning the THz to optical regimes.
Authors
- Jian Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1360-8969)
- Jingbo Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2969-5670)
- Hangbing Guo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5954-303X)
- Benwen Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6561-3594)
- Caihong Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2468-7612)
- Peiheng Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2663-8953)
- Biaobing Jin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9506-8355)
- Xinping Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6534-0004)
- Kebin Fan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0275-0871)
- Huabing Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4802-6077)
- Yunbin He (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7179-4392)
- Xinyu Huang
- Sheng Wang
- Wei Zhu
- Guanyi Li
- Yifei Feng
- He Ma
Institutions
- Beijing University of Technology (CN)
- Wuhan Textile University (CN)
- Purple Mountain Laboratories (CN)
- Nanjing University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2026-10-30
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-78992-x
- Primary Topic
- Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Government of Jiangsu Province
- Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Manipulating Technique of Electromagnetic Wave
- Beijing Nova Program
- Basic Research Program of Jiangsu Province
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities