The 2026 Roadmap on Wireless and Microwave Metasurfaces

Commonly, the electromagnetic properties of a microwave metamaterial are defined by its structure rather than by its chemical composition. Due to the nature of microwaves – electromagnetic radiation at frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz – metamaterials are usually composed of a combination of conductive and dielectric materials, with subwavelength patterns defining how a wave interacts with it. A metamaterial which is very thin with respect to the operating wavelength is usually referred to as a metasurface.

While the term “metamaterial” was first coined around the turn of the last millennium [1], antennas engineers have been designing engineered structures which would now be called metamaterials since at least the work of Ben Munk in the 1970s [2], and with the broadest definitions since artificial dielectric lenses were developed by Winston E. Kock at Bell Telephone Laboratories in the 1940s [3]. This historic link to telecommunications means similar techniques are used at lower frequencies, so this roadmap also includes metamaterials for other wireless applications.