Fluid-infiltrated on-axis ultra-compact reconfigurable intelligent surface for application of free-space optical communication

Free space optical (FSO) communication is an evolving technology that opens up the doors to use huge unlicensed bandwidth and can manifest high-speed communication. As the radio frequency spectrum is getting overburdened and unable to meet the ever-increasing demands of the internet, the optical spectrum can prove to be a paradigm shift to achieve the KPIs of communication including high data-rates, low latency and efficiency. In our study, a fluid-infiltrated reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) has been proposed that is proficient in directing the light on the concerned user. We proposed the integration of RIS in FSO communication to simultaneously enhance the data transmission range and acquire reconfigurability on run-time. Our proposed design can provide the communication link to the legitimate user while blocking the eavesdropper’s reception. The proposed miniature-sized surface is envisaged to be an efficient meta-device for dynamic applications in FSO Communication.