Abstract
Tunable Liquid Crystal (LC)-based microwave components are of increasing interest in academia and industry. Based on these components, numerous applications can be targeted such as tunable microwave filters and beam-steering antenna systems. With the commercialization of first LC-steered antennas for Ku-band e.g., by Kymeta and Alcan Systems, LC-based microwave components left early research stages behind. With the introduction of terrestrial 5G communications systems, moving to millimeter-wave communication, these systems can benefit from the unique properties of LC in terms of material quality. In this paper, we show recent developments in millimeter wave phase shifters for antenna arrays. The limits of classical high-performance metallic rectangular waveguides are clearly identified. A new implementation with dielectric waveguides is presented and compared to classic approaches.
Highlights
Liquid Crystal (LC) technology paved the way for today’s communication and information industry
The mixtures used for microwave applications are thermotropic calamitic nematic LCs
For and with applied field they change their orientation towards state II, at which the numbering of the example, the combination of surface anchoring and electrical biasing concepts as it is used in the liquid crystal displays (LCD)
Summary
Liquid Crystal (LC) technology paved the way for today’s communication and information industry. It found wide application in display technology and enabled modern devices for mobile computing such as smartphones, being present everywhere. Most of these devices (except for OLED) are based on the birefringence properties of LC. In the optical domain LC is packed between two polarization grids and is used to adaptively turn the polarization angle of light transmitted perpendicular to the LC’s surface This twisted nematic (TN) cell is the foundation principle for all modern liquid crystal displays (LCD). High-performance liquid crystal devices can play a Version August 24, 2018 submitted to Crystals crucial role
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