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In this article, we described the latest discoveries related to higher symmetries and opportunities to incorporate them into electromagnetic device designs. There are two known types of spatial higher symmetries: glide and twist. Glide symmetry has been the most broadly studied since it can be implemented in planar structures, which are easy to manufacture. For example, glide symmetry has been proposed to reduce the dispersion properties of the first propagating mode in parallel-plate configurations. This creates possibilities for increasing the bandwidth of metasurface lens antennas. More recently, glide symmetry was proposed to reduce the cost of low-dispersive, leakywave antennas. Additionally, glide symmetry has been reported to increase the operation bandwidth of conventional EBGs. This presents opportunities, for example, in cost-effective and robust gap waveguide technology and filters and to avoid undesireable leakage in flanges. Glide symmetry has also been proposed to produce tunable stopbands and increase the bandwidth of filters. In more recent works, glide symmetry has been found suitable for increasing the anisotropy of periodic structures, which can be used to reduce the dimensions of lens antennas. Finally, glide symmetry has been proposed for reducing the reflections at the contour of hyperbolic lenses ; this can be used to increase the total efficiency of lens antennas. Twist symmetries have been less studied than glide symmetries due to the complexity of their practical implementation. However, like glide symmetries, they have been proposed to reduce the dispersion of propagating modes and to control stopbands in transmission lines, waveguides, and flat metasurfaces.

In this article, a number of guiding structures are proposed which take advantage of higher symmetries to vastly reduce the dispersion. These higher symmetries are obtained by executing additional geometrical operations to introduce more than one period into the unit cell of a periodic structure. The specific symmetry operations employed here are a combination of p-fold twist and polar glide. Our dispersion analysis shows that a mode in a structure possessing higher symmetries is less dispersive than in a conventional structure. It is also demonstrated that, similar to the previously studied Cartesian glide-symmetric structures, polar glide-symmetric structures also exhibit a frequency independent response. Promising applications of these structures are leaky-wave antennas which utilize the low frequency dependence. QC 20211027

Metasurfaces are thin two-dimensional metamaterial layers that allow or inhibit the propagation of electromagnetic waves in desired directions. For example, metasurfaces have been demonstrated to produce unusual scattering properties of incident plane waves or to guide and modulate surface waves to obtain desired radiation properties. These properties have been employed, for example, to create innovative wireless receivers and transmitters. In addition, metasurfaces have recently been proposed to confine electromagnetic waves, thereby avoiding undesired leakage of energy and increasing the overall efficiency of electromagnetic instruments and devices. The main advantages of metasurfaces with respect to the existing conventional technology include their low cost, low level of absorption in comparison with bulky metamaterials, and easy integration due to their thin profile. Due to these advantages, they are promising candidates for real-world solutions to overcome the challenges posed by the next generation of transmitters and receivers of future high-rate communication systems that require highly precise and efficient antennas, sensors, active components, filters, and integrated technologies. This Roadmap is aimed at binding together the experiences of prominent researchers in the field of metasurfaces, from which explanations for the physics behind the extraordinary properties of these structures shall be provided from viewpoints of diverse theoretical backgrounds. Other goals of this endeavour are to underline the advantages and limitations of metasurfaces, as well as to lay out guidelines for their use in present and future electromagnetic devices. This Roadmap is divided into five sections: 1. Metasurface based antennas. In the last few years, metasurfaces have shown possibilities for advanced manipulations of electromagnetic waves, opening new frontiers in the design of antennas. In this section, the authors explain how metasurfaces can be employed to tailor the radiation properties of antennas, their remarkable advantages in comparison with conventional antennas, and the future challenges to be solved. 2. Optical metasurfaces. Although many of the present demonstrators operate in the microwave regime, due either to the reduced cost of manufacturing and testing or to satisfy the interest of the communications or aerospace industries, part of the potential use of metasurfaces is found in the optical regime. In this section, the authors summarize the classical applications and explain new possibilities for optical metasurfaces, such as the generation of superoscillatory fields and energy harvesters. 3. Reconfigurable and active metasurfaces. Dynamic metasurfaces are promising new platforms for 5G communications, remote sensing and radar applications. By the insertion of active elements, metasurfaces can break the fundamental limitations of passive and static systems. In this section, we have contributions that describe the challenges and potential uses of active components in metasurfaces, including new studieson non-Foster, parity-time symmetric, and non-reciprocal metasurfaces. 4. Metasurfaces with higher symmetries. Recent studies have demonstrated that the properties of metasurfaces are influenced by the symmetries of their constituent elements. Therefore, by controlling the properties of these constitutive elements and their arrangement, one can control the way in which the waves interact with the metasurface. In this section, the authors analyze the possibilities of combining more than one layer of metasurface, creating a higher symmetry, increasing the operational bandwidth of flat lenses, or producing cost-effective electromagnetic bandgaps. 5. Numerical and analytical modelling of metasurfaces. In most occasions, metasurfaces are electrically large objects, which cannot be simulated with conventional software. Modelling tools that allow the engineering of the metasurface properties to get the desired response are essential in the design of practical electromagnetic devices. This section includes the recent advances and future challenges in three groups of techniques that are broadly used to analyze and synthesize metasurfaces: circuit models, analytical solutions and computational methods.

International audience; In this paper, 1-D periodic structures possessing higher symmetries are proposed and investigated in terms of their dispersion properties. The proposed structures are coaxial lines with coaxial rings periodically loaded on their inner or outer conductors. The higher symmetries, namely, glide and twist symmetries, are obtained by performing an additional geometrical operation within the unit cell of the periodic structure. We demonstrate that the propagating modes exhibit a lower frequency dispersion in higher symmetric coaxial lines. Moreover, the conventional stopbands of periodic structures at their Brillouin zone boundaries can be controlled by breaking the higher symmetry or changing the order of the twist symmetry. A circuit-based analytical method is proposed to calculate the dispersion diagram of the glide-symmetric coaxial lines. The results are validated with a full-wave simulation. Moreover, several prototypes of the twist-symmetric coaxial lines are manufactured and measured. A remarkable agreement is achieved between the measurements and simulations, validating the theoretical results. The proposed structures find potential applications in leaky-wave antennas and fully metallic reconfigurable filters and phase shifters.

International audience; Here, we propose a fully-metallic implementation of a Luneburg lens operating at Ka-band with potential use for 5G communications. The lens is implemented with a parallel plate that is loaded with glide-symmetric holes. These holes are employed to produce the required equivalent refractive index profile of a Luneburg lens. Glide symmetry and inner metallic pins are employed to increase the equivalent refractive index. The lens is fed with rectangular waveguides designed to match the height of the parallel plate, and it is ended with a flare to minimize the reflections.