Metamaterials and their two-dimensional analogues, metasurfaces, have recently attracted enormous attention because of their powerful control over electromagnetic (EM) waves from microwave to visible range. Moreover, by introducing explicit control of its sub-wavelength unit cells, a metamaterial can become programmable. Programmable metamaterials may not only host multiple EM functionalities that can be chosen or combined through simple software directives, but also be provided with means to adapt to the environment or communicate with other metamaterials, thereby enabling a myriad of applications in sensing, imaging, or communications. The realization of such a software-driven cyber-physical vision comes, however, at the cost of significant hardware requirements. In this paper, recent progress in the field of programmable metasurfaces is reviewed, cutting across layers from the application down to the device and technology levels. The main aim is to present the current status, main benefits, and key challenges of this thriving research area with a tutorial spirit and from a hardware perspective.

中文翻译：

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用于软件定义电磁控制的可编程超材料：电路、系统和架构

超材料及其二维类似物超表面最近引起了极大的关注，因为它们对从微波到可见光范围的电磁 (EM) 波具有强大的控制能力。此外，通过引入对其亚波长单位单元的显式控制，超材料可以变得可编程。可编程超材料不仅可以通过简单的软件指令选择或组合多种电磁功能，还可以提供适应环境或与其他超材料通信的手段，从而实现传感、成像或通信方面的无数应用. 然而，这种软件驱动的网络物理愿景的实现是以显着的硬件需求为代价的。在本文中，回顾了可编程超表面领域的最新进展，从应用层到设备和技术层级。主要目的是本着教程精神并从硬件角度介绍这个蓬勃发展的研究领域的现状、主要优势和主要挑战。