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Zhao SQ, Fan YC, Yang RS et al. Smart reconfigurable metadevices made of shape memory alloy metamaterials. Opto-Electron Adv 8, 240109 (2025). doi: 10.29026/oea.2025.240109
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Article Open Access
Smart reconfigurable metadevices made of shape memory alloy metamaterials
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Abstract
Reconfigurable metamaterials significantly expand the application scenarios and operating frequency range of metamaterials, making them promising candidates for use in smart tunable device. Here, we propose and experimentally demonstrate that integrating metamaterial design principles with the intrinsic features of natural materials can engineer thermal smart metadevices. Tunable extraordinary optical transmission like (EOT-like) phenomena have been achieved in the microwave regime using shape memory alloy (SMA). The strongly localized fields generated by designed metadevices, combined with the intense interference of incident waves, enhance transmission through subwavelength apertures. Leveraging the temperature-responsive properties of SMA, the morphology of the metadevice can be recontructed, thereby modifying its response to electromagnetic waves. The experiments demonstrated control over the operating frequency and transmission amplitude of EOT-like behavior, achieving a maximum transmission enhancement factor of 126. Furthermore, the metadevices with modular design enable the realization of multiple functions with independent control have been demonstrated. The proposed SMA-based metamaterials offer advantages in terms of miniaturization, easy processing, and high design flexibility. They may have potential applications in microwave devices requiring temperature control, such as sensing and monitoring. -
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References
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Supplementary information for Smart reconfigurable metadevices made of shape memory alloy metamaterials 
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Zhao SQ, Fan YC, Yang RS et al. Smart reconfigurable metadevices made of shape memory alloy metamaterials. Opto-Electron Adv 8, 240109 (2025). doi: 10.29026/oea.2025.240109
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Figure 1.
Schematic function tunability with temperature and designs of the smart metadevices. (a) O-SME: one-way shape memory effect; T-SME: two-way shape memory effect. (b) and (c) To demonstrate the concept, three devices are designed.
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Figure 2.
Experimental verification of tunable EOT-like behavior. (a) Illustration of thermal tunable metadevices with EOT-like response in C-band. (b) Schematics and samples of two metadevices. (c) and (e) are simulated, (d) and (f) are measured transmission results for SRR and long stick structure, respectively. Insets of (c) and (d) plot enhancement factor for models in (b).
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Figure 3.
The control over the operating frequency and amplitude of EOT-like peak and near-field distribution. (a) and (b) show the tunable abilities of proposed metadevice for operating frequency and transmission amplitude. (c–f) Schematic of distribution of simulated currents and electric fields for SRR and long stick model. External excitation electric field induced a ring current for SRR, while a dipole current for long stick model. Such current distribution leads to electric field distribution in (e) and (f).
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Figure 4.
Dual-band and periodic model. (a) and (c) are measured, (b) and (d) are simulated transmission results for left-pass and right-pass independent, respectively. (e) The concept that the SRR is extended to form metasurfaces. (f) Under the same polarized electromagnetic signal, the metasurfaces made of SRR possess identical performance with metadevice working in waveguide.
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Figure 5.
Independent transmission modulation of the dual-band model. (a) and (b) are measured independent transmission modulation results for left-pass (operating frequency: f1) and right-pass (operating frequency: f2), respectively.
