Reflectarrays and metasurface reflectors as diffraction gratings

Abstract: Reconfigurable reflectors have a significant potential in future telecommunication systems, and approaches to the design and realization of full and tunable reflection control are now actively studied. Reflectarrays, being the classical approach to realization of scanning reflectors, are based on the phased-array theory (the so-called generalized reflection law) and the physical optics approximation of the reflection response. To overcome the limitations of the reflectarray technology, researchers actively study inhomogeneous metasurfaces, using the theory of diffraction gratings. In order to make these devices tunable and fully realize their potential, it is necessary to unify the two approaches and study reconfigurable reflectors from a unified point of view. Here, we offer a basic tutorial on reflectarrays and reflecting metasufaces, explaining their common fundamental properties that stem from the diffraction theory. This tutorial is suitable for graduate and post-graduate students and hopefully will help to develop more deeper understanding of both phased arrays and diffraction gratings.