Overcoming Phase-change Materials Limitations with Bending Metasurface

Recently, progress has been made in switchable metamaterials (MMs), particularly those that switch between polarization modulator and absorber using phase-change materials like vanadium dioxide (VO2). While VO2-based designs offer excellent tunability, they are hindered by practical limitations such as fabrication complexity due to multilayered geometry, high costs, and thermal sensitivity. Alternative strategies like the mechanical bending of MMs, particularly using laser-induced graphene (LIG), are emerging to address these challenges. Here, we explore how mechanically tune-based MMs offer practical, scalable alternatives to overcome the inherent drawbacks of VO2-based systems. The proposed single-layer metasurface device achieved a polarization conversion efficiency of over 90% in the range of 0.27 THz to 0.41 THz and exhibited circular polarization conversion from 0.48 THz to 0.62 THz. Additionally, the device demonstrated over 80% absorption efficiency when bent into a convex shape.