Designing reconfigurable reflective and radiating structures by exploiting composite vortex theory

Reconfigurability is a key property of modern communication systems, which need to adapt in real-time to changing environments and different operative conditions. Although several approaches to tailor the response of an electromagnetic system have been proposed, the quest for a complete and simple reconfigurable strategy is still far to be solved. Indeed, the possibility to tailor the response of the system typically involves a huge number of control lines and, thus, some critical issues for the practical implementation of the final design. In this framework, we discuss here the possibility of exploiting composite vortex theory for manipulating the response of reflective and radiating systems. In particular, by acting on a limited number of knobs, i.e. the relative amplitude and phase of two superimposed vortex modes, we show that both the radiating properties of patch antennas and the scattering pattern of reflective surfaces can be easily controlled.