Integrating vortex wave generation with broadband microwave attenuation using a multi-layer cascaded metasurface

Developing electromagnetic metamaterials that simultaneously offer broadband response, a thin profile, and multifunctional capabilities remains a key challenge in stealth technology. Based on the Pancharatnam–Berry (PB) phase principle, this study proposes a multilayer cascaded geometric phase metasurface. By rotating the meta-atoms to introduce a controllable phase gradient, the metasurface efficiently converts incident circularly polarized waves into co-polarized reflected vortex waves, while leveraging electromagnetic coupling and resonance characteristics between the multilayer structures to achieve broadband energy dissipation. Experimental results demonstrate that this merely 2.72 mm thick multilayer cascaded structure achieves an effective absorption bandwidth of 7.9 GHz (8.1–16.0 GHz), representing a threefold increase over a single-layer design, and exhibits excellent radar cross-section (RCS) reduction performance. Near field and scattering confirm vortex wave generation with specific topological charges, revealing the intrinsic physical mechanism underlying broadband absorption and stealth through energy scattering across a wide angular domain. This study provides new insights for addressing the technical challenges of broadband and multifunctional absorption materials, laying an important foundation for the development of next-generation intelligent stealth metamaterials.