Abstract The symmetry of the phase profile dictates how a metasurface manipulates electromagnetic waves. Altering that symmetry therefore directly enables wave control. Conventional mechanical methods such as elastic stretching and single‐cell kirigami vary lattice spacings p x , p y and meta‐atom orientation but leave the ordering unchanged, limiting the accessible symmetries. Here, supercell kirigami is introduced, where several phase‐distinct meta‐atoms are mounted on each rigid panel. During actuation, the panels stretch, rotate, and, crucially, reorder their meta‐atom sequence. Guided by wallpaper group design principles, a variety of kirigami metasurfaces including rotating square and staggered rotating rectangle supercells, are fabricated, and experimentally realize five symmetry transitions, including the previously inaccessible pmm to p4m and pmm to pmg routes. Broadband measurements confirm wavefront conversions from dual to quad beams and redirection of reflected beams by 45°. Because the kirigami architecture is scale‐ and material‐independent, the same strategy readily extends to higher frequency regimes. Operating at the phase map level rather than relying on resonator physics, this approach can also be applied to acoustic and thermal metasurfaces and even photonic crystals, opening broad prospects for reconfigurable wave devices.
Jiang et al. (Mon,) studied this question.