A 1 bit single-polarization broadband space-time-coding digital metasurface element with a zero cross polarization is proposed. This element consists of a modified patch, an electronic switch, a dc-bias network, a ground plane, and two-layer dielectrics. The upper patch with edge loading and centered square hole is fully optimized to achieve broadband and stable phase difference between two states. By electronically controlling the diode, the element achieves a 1 bit phase shift with a relative bandwidth of 20% within 180° ± 30° from 7.71 to 9.43 GHz. Moreover, a negligible cross polarization is obtained due to the uniaxial symmetry of the structure, and the amplitude loss is less than 0.8 dB for two states. The experimental results measured in a rectangular waveguide are well matched with the simulations, further demonstrating validity of the proposed element.

As an active microwave coherent imaging technology, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images suffer from severe speckle noise and low-resolution problems due to the limitations of the imaging system, which cause difficulties in image interpretation and target detection. However, the existing SAR super-resolution (SR) methods usually reconstruct the images by a determined degradation model and hardly consider multiplicative speckle noise, meanwhile, most SR models are trained with synthetic datasets in which the low-resolution (LR) images are down-sampled from their high-resolution (HR) counterparts. These constraints cause a serious domain gap between the synthetic and real SAR images. To solve the above problems, this paper proposes an unsupervised blind SR method for SAR images by introducing SAR priors in a cycle-GAN framework. First, a learnable probabilistic degradation model combined with SAR noise priors was presented to satisfy various SAR images produced from different platforms. Then, a degradation model and a SR model in a unified cycle-GAN framework were trained simultaneously to learn the intrinsic relationship between HR–LR domains. The model was trained with real LR and HR SAR images instead of synthetic paired images to conquer the domain gap. Finally, experimental results on both synthetic and real SAR images demonstrated the high performance of the proposed method in terms of image quality and visual perception. Additionally, we found the proposed SR method demonstrates the tremendous potential for target detection tasks by reducing missed detection and false alarms significantly.

Terahertz (THz) vortex beams carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM) with high purity and tunable topological charge (TC) will undoubtedly bring extraordinary capacities for advanced imaging or communication systems. We propose a convenient and efficient method to generate a tunable and broadband vortex beam that is excited by superradiant Smith-Purcell radiation (SSPR) on a helical grating. This scheme fully explores the advantages of natural broadband evanescent wave carried by the electron beam and the Bloch's theorem regulated helical periodic systems. An explicit relation is established between the index of the spatial harmonic wave on the grating and the topological charge of the vortex beam. The electron energy in the SSPR can be customized to ignite the specific spatial harmonics and manipulate the OAM beam, accordingly. The separated radiation region also promises the high purity of the OAM spectrum. The harmonic excitation reduces the communality between the wavelength and the device size and alleviates the difficulty of device fabrication in the THz band. The proposed vortex scheme can not only be handily scaled to microwave and mid-infrared regions, but also bring possibilities to applications based on compact tunable vortex beam sources.

In this paper, a displacement sensor with an electrically extremely small size and high sensitivity is proposed based on an elaborately designed metamaterial element, i.e., coupled split-ring resonators (SRRs). The sensor consists of a feeding structure with a rectangular opening loop and a sensing structure with double-layer coupled SRRs. The movable double-layer structures can be used to measure the relative displacement. The size of microwave displacement sensors can be significantly reduced due to the compact feeding and sensing structures. By adjusting the position of the split gap within the resonator, the detection directions of the displacement sensing can be further expanded accordingly (along with the x- or y-axis) without increasing its physical size. Compared with previous works, the extremely compact size of 0.05λ₀ × 0.05λ₀ (λ₀ denotes the free-space wavelength), a high sensitivity, and a high quality factor (Q-factor) can be achieved by the proposed sensor. From the perspective of the advantages above, the proposed sensor holds promise for being applied in many high-precision industrial measurement scenarios.

An orbital angular momentum (OAM) antenna based on chiral harmonic diffraction of spoof surface plasmon polaritons (SSPP) is demonstrated in this letter. Due to the diffraction of the helical wire, SSPP is transformed into the high-purity OAM mode. The operation frequency is determined by SSPP, and the topological charge is manipulated by modulating the harmonic order. Additionally, this system achieves a frequency-controlled beam-scanning characteristic in a wide bandwidth from 7.8 to 12.6 GHz, and the measurement data agrees well with the theoretical analysis and the simulation results. Furthermore, the OAM antenna validated in this letter is compact, easy-fabricated, and robust.The underlying principle opens up a new train of thought for generating OAM mode and paves the versatile applications involving wireless communication.

High-quality axis-encircling electron beam is essential to drive a high-harmonic gyrotron. A magnetic cusp gun that can generate a low-spread axis-encircling electron beam at an extremely high magnetic-compression ratio was developed for a 1-THz fourth-harmonic gyrotron toward continuous-wave operation. The optimized gun could generate an axis-encircling electron beam with 80-kV voltage, 1-A current, and a nearly constant pitch factor of about 1.5 in a wide range of magnetic field strength. The transverse velocity spread was less than 2.1% and the guiding center radius was $26.6 ~\mu \text{m}$ . The design was verified by using MAGIC, EGUN, and CST simulations and good agreements were achieved.