关于 RIS 的元件大小

element size is different from MIMO

As [Asymptotic Optimality of Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces: Passive Beamforming and Achievable Rate] reported, we know:

In principle, the electrical size of the unit reflecting elements (i.e., meta-atoms) deployed on RIS is between λ/8 and λ/4, where λ is a wavelength of radio frequency (RF) signal [5].
Note that conventional large antenna-array systems, such as a massive multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) and MIMO relay system, typically require antenna spacing of greater than λ/2 [3]. Therefore, an RIS can provide more reliable and space-intensive communications compared to conventional antennaarray systems as clearly explained in [2]–[4].

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• [Reliability Analysis of Large Intelligent Surfaces (LISs): Rate Distribution and Outage Probability]
  An LIS system enables the desired channels to become line-of-sight (LOS) channels, resulting in more reliable and space-intensive communications compared to conventional massive multiple-input multipleoutput (MIMO) systems.
  For an overview on how LIS differs from massive MIMO, see [3]–[7].

• [Intelligent Reflecting Surface vs. Decode-and-Forward: How Large Surfaces Are Needed to Beat Relaying?]
  Each element has a smaller size than the wavelength, thus it scatters the incoming signal with approximately constant gain in all directions of interest.

• A metasurface is a planar, artificial structure which comprises a repeated element, the meta-atom, over a substrate. In most usual compositions, the meta-atom is conductive and the substrate is dielectric. Common choices are copper over silicon, while silver and gold constitute other exemplary conductors [A. Y. Zhu et al., “Traditional and emerging materials for optical metasurfaces,” Nanophotonics, vol. 6, no. 2, 2017.].
  More exotic approaches employ graphene, in order to interact with THz-modulated waves [S. H. Lee et al., “Switching terahertz waves with gate-controlled active graphene metamaterials,” Nature Materials, vol. 11, no. 11, pp. 936–941, 2012.]. Metasurfaces are able to control EM waves impinging on them, in a frequency span that depends on the overall dimensions. The size of the meta-atom is comparable to the intended interaction wavelength, $\lambda$, with $\lambda /2$ constituting a common choice. The thickness of the metasurface is smaller than the interaction wavelength, ranging between $\lambda /10\to \lambda /5$ as a rule of a thumb. Metasurfaces usually comprise several hundreds of meta-atoms, which results into fine-grained control over the EM interaction control. In general, a minimum size of approximately 30×30 meta-atoms is required to yield an intended EM interaction [H.-T. Chen, A. J. Taylor, and N. Yu, “A review of metasurfaces: physics and applications,” Reports on progress in physics. Physical Society (Great Britain), vol. 79, no. 7, p. 076401, 2016.].