Phase Tuning Range Research Articles

Efficient Manipulation of Near‐Field Terahertz Waves: Individually Addressable Transmissive Meta‐Device

AbstractDue to the powerful capability in manipulating electromagnetic (EM) waves, digital coding and programmable metasurfaces have found vast application prospects across numerous areas such as next‐generation wireless communications and digital holography. Liquid crystals (LCs), as dielectric materials with significant birefringence effect over a wide frequency range, provide a cost‐effective solution for achieving the programmable metasurfaces and flexible EM manipulations, especially in the terahertz (THz) band. Different from the conventional 1D control and single functionality of transmissive LC‐based devices, here, a 16 × 16 addressable amplitude‐phase coding meta‐device is proposed to support for frequency multiplexing by using the film on glass (FOG) technology. Both numerical simulations and experimental results demonstrate that the meta‐atom exhibits an amplitude modulation depth over 90% and a phase tuning range ≈180° at two distinct frequencies, and hence the single meta‐device can provide multifunctional EM applications, including near‐field printing imaging, 3D THz energy convergence, and zero‐order Bessel beam generation. The proposed strategy paves a way for constructing highly integrated and high‐performance THz multifunctional information processing systems.

Liquid Crystal Metasurface for On‐Demand Terahertz Beam Forming Over 110° Field‐Of‐View

AbstractThe terahertz spectral region, which bridges between electronics and optics, is poised to play an important role in the development of transformative wireless communication and imaging systems with unprecedented functionality. Currently, a major challenge in terahertz technology is to develop high‐performance terahertz beam‐forming devices that can dynamically shape the terahertz radiation in a flexible manner. Existing terahertz beam‐forming devices have limited coding bits, field‐of‐view, and beam gain. Here, a reconfigurable liquid crystal‐integrated terahertz metasurface is experimentally demonstrated, with each metasurface unit cell being independently addressable. The metasurface has a 260° continuous phase tuning range with a liquid crystal layer thickness of only 1% of the free‐space wavelength. The terahertz wave diffracted from the metasurface can be steered toward a wide range of directions is shown, covering a record‐large 110° field‐of‐view with a peak gain of 25 dBi. The metasurface also features a low power consumption and sub‐second switching time. Furthermore, the formation of multiple terahertz beams is demonstrated, with the direction of each beam and the power ratio between beams adjustable on demand. The proposed liquid crystal metasurface possesses compelling prospects for future terahertz communication and imaging applications.

A Microwave Photonic Frequency-Doubling Phase Shifter Based on Dual-Parallel Mach–Zehnder Modulators

A microwave photonic frequency-doubling phase shifter with a broad bandwidth and large tuning range is proposed in this paper. Frequency doubling and phase shifting are realized by processing the input microwave signal in the optical domain at a dual-drive dual-parallel Mach–Zehnder modulator (DD-DPMZM) and a dual-parallel Mach–Zehnder modulator (DPMZM). The input signal is split into two branches through a 90-degree hybrid splitter. One signal is sent to the DD-DPMZM to achieve a phase-shifted carrier-suppressed up-sideband by tuning the bias voltage, and the other is sent to the DPMZM to realize a carrier-suppressed down-sideband. By beating the phase-shifted up-sideband and the down-sideband at a photodetector (PD), the input signal is frequency doubled and phase shifted. The proposed frequency-doubling phase shifter is simulated. The results show that the frequency-doubled signal has a phase-tuning range from 0 to 360 degrees. In addition, the influence of the amplitude and phase unbalance of the 90-degree hybrid splitter on the magnitude variation and phase deviation of the frequency-doubling phase shifter is studied.

Si-Based Polarizer and 1-Bit Phase-Controlled Non-Polarizing Beam Splitter-Based Integrated Metasurface for Extended Shortwave Infrared.

Metasurfaces, composed of micro-nano-structured planar materials, offer highly tunable control over incident light and find significant applications in imaging, navigation, and sensing. However, highly efficient polarization devices are scarce for the extended shortwave infrared (ESWIR) range (1.7~2.5 μm). This paper proposes and demonstrates a highly efficient all-dielectric diatomic metasurface composed of single-crystalline Si nanocylinders and nanocubes on SiO2. This metasurface can serve as a nanoscale linear polarizer for generating polarization-angle-controllable linearly polarized light. At the wavelength of 2172 nm, the maximum transmission efficiency, extinction ratio, and linear polarization degree can reach 93.43%, 45.06 dB, and 0.9973, respectively. Moreover, a nonpolarizing beam splitter (NPBS) was designed and deduced theoretically based on this polarizer, which can achieve a splitting angle of ±13.18° and a phase difference of π. This beam splitter can be equivalently represented as an integration of a linear polarizer with controllable polarization angles and an NPBS with one-bit phase modulation. It is envisaged that through further design optimization, the phase tuning range of the metasurface can be expanded, allowing for the extension of the operational wavelength into the mid-wave infrared range, and the splitting angle is adjustable. Moreover, it can be utilized for integrated polarization detectors and be a potential application for optical digital encoding metasurfaces.

On-chip non-uniformly spaced multi-channel microwave photonic signal processor based on an ultrahigh-Q multimode micro-disk resonator.

Multi-channel microwave photonic (MWP) signal processing can simultaneously perform different task operations on multiple signals carried by multiple wavelengths, which holds great potential for ultrafast signal processing and characterization in a wavelength-division-multiplexed (WDM) network. As emerging telecommunication services create more data, an elastic optical network, which has a flexible and non-uniform spectrum channel spacing, is an alternative architecture to meet the ever-increasing data transfer need. Here, for the multi-channel ultra-fast signal processing in the elastic optical network, we propose and demonstrate an on-chip non-uniformly spaced multi-channel microwave photonic signal processor based on an ultrahigh-Q multimode micro-disk resonator (MDR). In the proposed signal processor, an MDR supporting multiple different order whispering-gallery modes (WGMs) with an ultrahigh Q-factor is specifically designed. Benefiting from the large and different free spectral ranges (FSRs) provided by the different order WGMs, a non-uniformly spaced multi-channel microwave photonic signal processor is realized, and various processing functions are experimentally demonstrated including bandpass filtering with a narrow passband of 103 MHz, a rejection ratio of 22.3 dB and a frequency tuning range from 1 to 30 GHz, multiple frequency measurement with a frequency measurement range from 1 to 30 GHz, a frequency resolution better than 200 MHz and a measurement accuracy of 91.3 MHz, and phase shifting with a phase tuning range from -170°∼160°, an operational bandwidth of 26 GHz from 6 GHz to 32 GHz and a small power variation of 0.43 dB. Thanks to the coexistence of different order WGMs supported by the MDR, non-uniformly spaced multi-channel signal processing is enabled with the key advantages including a broad operation bandwidth, an ultra-narrow frequency selectivity, and a large phase tuning range with a small power variation. The proposed signal processor is promising to be widely used in future elastic optical networks with flexible spectrum grids.

A 52-to-57 GHz CMOS Phase-Tunable Quadrature VCO Based on a Body Bias Control Technique

This paper presents a 52-to-57 GHz CMOS quadrature voltage-controlled oscillator (QVCO) with a novel I/Q phase tuning technique based on a body bias control method. The QVCO employs an in-phase injection-coupling (IPIC) network comprising four diode-connected FETs for the quadrature phase generation. The I/Q phase error is calibrated by controlling the body bias voltage offset of the QVCO’s four core FETs. This technique effectively covers a wide range of I/Q phase error between −13.4° and +10.7°. It also minimally induces the unwanted variations in the phase noise, current dissipation, and oscillation frequency, which were found to be only 0.4 dB, 0.07%, and 36 MHz, respectively. After the IPIC-QVCO, a phase-tunable two-stage LO buffer employing a 3-bit switched-capacitor bank was added for additional phase tuning, leading to the extension of the phase tuning range up to −22.7–+20.0°. The proposed QVCO is implemented in a 40 nm RF CMOS process. The measured results show that the QVCO covers a frequency band from 52.4 to 57.6 GHz while consuming 26.2 mW. The phase noise and the figure-of-merit of the QVCO are −91.8 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset and −172.4 dBc/Hz, respectively. We also realized a fully integrated 55 GHz quadrature RF transmitter employing the phase-tunable QVCO and LO generator. The effectiveness of the proposed phase-tunable LO generator was confirmed by verifying the image rejection ratio (IRR) calibration at the RF output.

Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface for FDD Systems: Design and Optimization

Reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) has recently emerged as a promising technology for wireless communications, which intelligently controls the phase shift of each unit cell to form desired beams. Most prior works on RIS consider time-division duplexing (TDD) systems, in which the same phase shifts can be applied to both uplink and downlink due to the channel reciprocity. However, for frequency-division duplexing (FDD) systems, using the same phase shifts will result in beam misalignment, thereby leading to performance degradation. To address this issue, in this paper, we study the practical RIS design and beamforming optimization for FDD systems. By representing the phase shifts of RIS with the equivalent circuit model which includes the resistance, inductances, and tunable capacitance, we propose a methodology to design the circuit parameters (i.e., inductances and capacitance) to meet the desired reflection requirements (i.e., phase tuning range, reflectivity, and zero phase slope) of both the uplink and downlink transmissions in FDD systems. Given the designed inductances, a practical binary RIS reflection model corresponding to two reflection states is then proposed. Furthermore, based on the proposed reflection model, a problem is formulated to jointly optimize the active and passive beamforming such that the minimum array response gain of the uplink and the downlink is maximized. An efficient iterative algorithm is proposed to obtain a suboptimal solution. Simulation results show that our proposed RIS design outperforms those benchmarks which design the circuits by only optimizing either uplink or downlink.

Simultaneous Amplitude- and Phase-Tunable Coupler With Wide Phase Tuning Range

In this article, a coupler with simultaneously tunable power division ratio (PDR) and phase difference is proposed based on a multivector summation method. Two groups of varactor diodes are installed on the cross-shaped quarter-wavelength coupled lines to realize the proposed tunable coupler. The horizontal coupled lines serve as the subcouplers to generate multiple vectors, while the vertical coupled lines serve as the phase-tunable units (PTUs) to control the phase of the vectors. The phases of the PTUs can be therefore tuned by the varactor diodes. With a proper combination of the capacitance of the varactor diodes, the amplitude and phase characteristics of the proposed coupler can be controlled independently. For demonstration, a highly tunable coupler operating at 1.8 GHz is designed, fabricated, and measured. The PDR of the coupler can be tuned from <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$-$</tex-math> </inline-formula> 7 to 1 dB with a 90 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^{\circ}$</tex-math> </inline-formula> phase difference, while the phase difference of the coupler can be tuned within a wide range from 10 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^{\circ}$</tex-math> </inline-formula> to 165 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^{\circ}$</tex-math> </inline-formula> with equal power division. Better than 10-dB return loss and 15-dB isolation can be observed under different states.

A mm-Wave Signal Generation and Background Phase Alignment Technique for Scalable Arrays

This work presents a mm-wave signal generation method that provides background phase tuning and self-alignment between adjacent sources. This technique is based on direct monitoring of the mm-wave signal and provides phase tuning through a baseband feedback loop. We present the theory of the concept, provide the design methodology, and validate the proposed method with a two-element prototype in a 65-nm CMOS process. The prototype has a chip area of 1.3 mm <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\times $ </tex-math></inline-formula> 2 mm and consumes a total dc power of 258 mW. Chip measurements demonstrate a phase tuning range of 140° at 35 GHz with 20°/step and 3.5° of rms phase error. The measured phase switching time is 20 ns. The measured phase noise at 1-MHz offset is below –117 dBc/Hz across phase settings, and the accumulated jitter is 86 fs. These results are consistent with theory and simulation. This work provides a phase alignment technique for large-scale mm-wave phased arrays.

Rethinking Liquid Crystal Tunable Phase Shifter Design with Inverted Microstrip Lines at 1–67 GHz by Dissipative Loss Analysis

Growing 5G/6G phased-array beam-steering applications, for which liquid crystal (LC) is one of the enabling technology candidates, have sparked interest in the modulation of the phase (and amplitude) of microwave and millimeter-wave signals. In this communication, fresh insights into the systematic design analysis of a 1–67 GHz passive inverted microstrip line (IMSL) phase shifter filled with highly anisotropic LC as tunable dielectric media are obtained. Based on waveguide disturbance tests to characterize the dielectric properties of the non-tunable PCB and tunable LC used in the IMSL phase shift device filled with a GT3-24002 LC layer (125 µm thick) partially enclosing a 220 µm wide, 17 µm thick, 1.35 cm long copper core line, a 0–π differential phase shift in the 1–67 GHz range with less than 2 dB insertion loss is reported. Dissipative loss analysis shows that the dielectric absorption of the LC is 21.28% of the input signal power at 60 GHz. Further investigation is performed to quantify the impacts of dielectric substrate thicknesses (PCB and LC) on the wave-occupied volume ratio (and hence the phase tuning range), as well as on dissipative losses (including conductor loss and dielectric loss). Specifically, conductor loss is observed to follow a linear relationship with the reciprocal of the LC thickness.

220-240-GHz High-Gain Phase Shifter Chain and Power Amplifier for Scalable Large Phased-Arrays

This paper focuses on the design aspects of the key components for a scalable phased-array system over the 200 GHz frequency range. A high-gain phase shifter chain for 220 to 240 GHz frequency range and a high-gain power amplifier (PA) with a high output power are designed in a 0.13-μm SiGe BiCMOS technology. The phase shifter chain includes a low-noise amplifier (LNA), a vector modulator phase shifter (PS), and a gain-enhancing amplifier. The LNA is a five-stage cascode design. The vector modulator core is realized by two variable gain amplifiers based on the Gilbert cell architecture. A four-stage cascode design is used for the gain-enhancing amplifier. The phase shifter chain shows a measured gain of 18 dB at 230 GHz with a 360° phase tuning range and more than 10 dB of gain control. The chip achieves a minimum measured noise figure of 11.5 dB at 230 GHz and shows a wideband noise characteristic. The complete phase shifter chain chip consumes a dc power of 153 mW and occupies a 1.41 mm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> area. A high-power PA that is critical for a large phased-array system is designed. This paper presents a unique 4-way power combining technique utilizing a differential quadrature coupler. The realized balanced PA occupies an area of 0.67 mm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> and shows a measured peak gain of 21 dB at 244 GHz. The PA consumes 819 mW of dc power and delivers a maximum saturated output power ( <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">P_sat</i> ) of 7.1 dBm at 244 GHz and more than 4.3 dBm of <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">P_sat</i> from 230 to 255 GHz.

(Digital Presentation) Sub-THz Front Ends for Future Communication and Sensing Technologies in 130nm Sige Bicmos Technology

Introduction: Beyond the-5G technologies are targeting the available bandwidth (BW) in the D-band and J-band. This promises for very high speed communication and sensing accuracy. Although the advantages of operating beyond 100 GHz from the application point of view, it requires a lot of research and development to design a reliable and power efficient chipsets. In this presentation we will go through the design of wideband 240 GHz transmitter (Tx) and receiver (Rx). Firstly an overview about the link budget analysis will be given, then the design of the local carrier signal generator will be discussed. The wideband Txs and Rxs are to be presented with frequency channelizing concept. At the end the results of the wireless links will be demonstrated. Link Budget Analysis: Operating at sub-THz frequencies approaching the transistor fT put a lot of constraints on the system link budget. The elevated noise figure together with the limited maximum Pout of the transistors lead to solutions which might be limited in BW or power efficiency. Hence the design architecture need to be optimized taking into account the elevated power consumption and heat dissipation. Carrier Generation: Several approaches could be followed to generate the sub-THz carrier frequency. For a power efficient solution the fundamental oscillators promise for a power efficient solution but with limited phase noise performance and tuning range. Such a solution is more common for imaging systems operating at a single frequency. In order to achieve wider tuning ranges for multi-channel scenario or FMCW radar systems, the frequency multiplication chains are common, whereas the multiplication factor depends on the system parameters. Sub-THz Rx: Different approaches were followed to realize a wideband sub-THz Rx. For some technologies the transistors ft does not promise the realization of low noise amplifiers (LNA) with reasonable noise figure, gain and BW. Hence the mixer first approach were followed trying to optimize the noise figure of the down conversion mixer as much as possible. This also enhances the input compression point (IP1dB) of the Rx which is better for monostatic radar applications. On the other hand, if the technology in use allows the development of well performing LNA’s, the LNA first approach was followed to enhance the all over NF of the receiver and ease the implementation of IQ Rxs. In our work an LNA was implemented followed by IQ downconversion mixers and baseband chain as presented in [3]. Sub-THz Tx: The Tx main challenging performance parameter in the sub-THz frequency range is to achieve high output compression point across the required BW with as high efficiency as possible. Increasing the power handling capabilities of the power amplifiers (PA) by increasing the transistors sizes of the output stages, leads to low output impedance and hence higher impedance transformation ratios for the matching structures and eventually narrow band designs. Hence the power combining architectures were proposed as an alternative to increase the output power either by combining on-chip or combining in air. In this work a fully integrated IQ Tx is to be presented with on-chip LO chain and 4-way power combined power amplifier. Baseband Signal Generation and Processing The baseband topology depend on the application. For mobile communication or localization use cases a wideband channels are not available directly from the digital processors, a kind of channel bonding is required either in the digital domain or in the analog domain. As a proof of concept we present here 3-IQ frequency interleaving combiner. Wireless Link Demonstrator Two demonstrators are to be presented. The first demonstrator is transmitting a broadband IQ signal generated from an arbitrary wave generator wirelessly utilizing an IQ 240GHz Tx and Rx. Data rates up to 100 Gbps were demonstrated across a 1m of wireless link. The second demonstrator includes the implementation of 3-channel IQ channelizer to create the complex modulated signal at several intermediate frequencies (IFs) and then upconverted to the 240GHz carrier signal. On the Rx side the de-channelizer convert the down modulated signal to three IQ channels. Data rates up to 8Gbps were demonstrated wirelessly with the channelization with potential of further enhancements for more channels integration. Outlook The future of the sub-THz wireless links for high speed communication and localizations goes towards implementing phased array and MIMO systems. This requires the research community to develop novel architectures to develop large scale arrays with acceptable power consumptions and suitable packaging solution. On the baseband side also the channel bonding solutions are still in an early stage, requiring more work to bond modularly larger number of channels.

A K-Band CMOS Standing Wave Oscillator Using Digital-Controlled Artificial Dielectric Differential Transmission Lines

This letter presents a K-band standing wave oscillator (SWO) based on digital-controlled artificial dielectric differential transmission lines (DiCAD-DTLs). By combining the unique property of constant phase and digitally controlled wide tuning range, the proposed design achieves a better balance between phase noise and tuning range. A compact layout and high operating frequency are, hence, possible, since DiCAD-DTLs in this design behave like a resonator instead of a capacitor bank. This chip was fabricated in a standard 0.13- <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> CMOS process with an area of 0.035 mm2. It achieves a tuning range from 19.2 to 21.6 GHz. The measured phase noise is around −104.7 dBc/Hz at a 1-MHz offset. This oscillator including buffer consumes 5 mA from a 1.5-V supply, demonstrating a figure of merit (FOM) and FOM <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathrm {_{T}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> of −181.8 and −183.3 dBc/Hz, respectively.

A 24–29.5-GHz Highly Linear Phased-Array Transceiver Front-End in 65-nm CMOS Supporting 800-MHz 64-QAM and 400-MHz 256-QAM for 5G New Radio

This article presents a four-element phased-array transceiver (TRX) front-end for millimeter-wave (mm-Wave) 5G new radio (NR). The effects of amplitude-to-phase (AM–PM) and amplitude-to-amplitude (AM–AM) distortions on error vector magnitude (EVM) are detailed. A three-stage highly linear wideband class-AB power amplifier (PA) is described, mitigating AM–PM and AM–AM distortions without degrading other performances. A matching network embedded transmitting/receiving (T/R) switch is proposed to support time division duplex (TDD). With the proposed technique, RF switch insertion losses are reduced in both transmitter (TX) and receiving (RX) modes. In each TRX element, phase and gain controls are achieved by a 6-bit vector-modulated phase shifter (VMPS) with a phase tuning range of 360° and a 6-bit attenuator with a gain tuning range of 31.5 dB, respectively. Fabricated in 65-nm bulk CMOS, the proposed packaged TRX demonstrates the measured peak gains of 25.5/14.2 dB with the gain ripples of less than 2.5/1.9 dB across 24–29.5 GHz in the TX/RX mode. The measured peak <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$P_{\text {1 dB}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> is 17.6 dBm with a power added efficiency (PAE) of 20.4%. The measured minimum noise figure (NF) is 4.3 dB. The TRX achieves an output power of 7.9–8.9 dBm and an EVM of −25 dB with 8 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\times $ </tex-math></inline-formula> 100-MHz 5G NR frequency range 2 (FR2) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) 64-quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) signals across 24–29.5 GHz, covering 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) 5G NR FR2 operating bands (i.e., n257, n258, and n261) around 26 GHz.

A 200–250-GHz Phase Shifter Utilizing a Compact and Wideband Differential Quadrature Coupler

This letter presents the design of a 200–250-GHz compact vector modulator (VM) phase shifter in a 0.13- <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> SiGe bipolar complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (BiCMOS) technology. A compact, low-loss, and wideband differential quadrature coupler is used to generate differential I/Q signals. The design details of the millimeter-wave wideband differential coupler is presented and compared with other I/Q generators by the 3-D electromagnetic (EM)-simulated results. The VM core is realized by two variable gain amplifiers based on Gilbert cell architecture. The measured phase shifter shows a gain of −10.3 dB for the maximum gain setting at 230 GHz. The phase shifter shows a −17 dB of gain for full 360° phase tuning range and a 10 dB of gain control. The maximum rms gain error and the phase error are 1.25 dB and 10°, respectively, from 200 to 250 GHz. The chip consumes a dc power of 55 mW and occupies a core area of 0.09 mm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> .

A Bidirectional MEMS-Like Passive Beamformer for Emerging Millimeter-Wave Applications

In this article, the design and implementation of a low-loss bidirectional microelectromechanical system (MEMS)-like passive beamformer for emerging millimeter-wave (mm-Wave) applications are illustrated. A 4 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\times $ </tex-math></inline-formula> 4 phased-array antenna (PAA) is fabricated employing the proposed beamformer for demonstration. The phase shifter (PS) embedded in the beamformer operates based on the principle of loaded-transmission line (TL) PSs. Slow wave mechanism is employed to shrink the size of the PS. The PS measurement results show the average insertion loss (IL) of 1.3 dB in all the tuning states and the IL variation is 0.9 dB. The PS provides 380° of the phase tuning range in a compact footprint area of 2.4 mm <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\times $ </tex-math></inline-formula> 3 mm. The antenna array incorporates slot-coupled patch antennas with left-handed circularly polarized (LHCP) radiation. The operating frequency bandwidth of the antenna system ranges from 28 to 30 GHz to provide co-pol/X-pol discrimination of more than 12 dB for all the steering angles. Measurement results show the beam steering angular range of ± 30° in both elevation and azimuth planes. The measurement results also show the peak directivity of 18.48 dBic and the radiation efficiency of 58% at boresight at the frequency of 29 GHz. The efficiency drops 16% when the steering angle reaches the maximum.

Research of Gate-Tunable Phase Modulation Metasurfaces Based on Epsilon-Near-Zero Property of Indium-Tin-Oxide

In this paper, we proposed a reflection phase electrically tunable metasurface composed of an Au/Al2O3/ITO/Au grating structure. This antenna array can achieve a broad phase shift continuously and smoothly from 0° to 320° with a 5.85 V applied voltage bias. Tunability arises from field-effect modulation of the carrier concentrations or accumulation layer at the Al2O3/ITO interface, which excites electric and magnetic resonances in the epsilon-near-zero region. To make the reflected phase tuning range as wide as possible, some of the intensity of the reflected light is lost due to the excited surface plasmon effect. Simulation results show that the effect of optimal phase modulation can be realized at a wavelength range of 1550 nm by modulating the carrier concentration in our work. Additionally, we utilized an identical 13-unit array metasurface to demonstrate its application to the beam steering function. This active optical metasurface can enable a new realm of applications in ultrathin integrated photonic circuits.

An Integrated Compact Phase Shifter With a Single Analog Control

This letter presents a new circuit topology for a vector sum phase shifter where the amplitudes and phases of I and Q are simultaneously varied using a single analog control signal. The simultaneous adjustment of amplitudes and phases of I and Q allows for the vector sum's large phase tuning while maintaining its amplitude. Moreover, various functions of vector summation are all performed in a single stage, minimizing the chip real estate and power consumption. The maximum range of analog phase tuning with a constant amplitude is theoretically 180°, but in practice, it is limited by the tuning range of the utilized varactors. To achieve a large phase tuning range given varactors with limited tunability, digital control has been added to allow for coarse tuning of the phase. The utilized approach for coarse phase tuning preserves the chip area and power consumption but causes amplitude variation. The phase shifter performance is verified by simulations and measurements.

A Reconfigurable Reflectarray Antenna With an 8 μm-Thick Layer of Liquid Crystal

This article demonstrates an electronically scanned reflectarray antenna based on liquid crystal (LC). The LC-based reflectarray element was designed as a periodically loading of parallel H-shaped polygons on two metal layers. To realize a tunable reflection phase and reduce the inhomogeneity effect of LC, an <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$8~\mu \text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> -thick LC layer was designed as a varactor rather than a substrate. In simulations, the adjustable reflection-phase range of the proposed element was 180° in the frequency band 21–21.5 GHz. The design concept was verified on a reflectarray prototype containing 26 rows of the basic elements. In addition, a 32-channel control circuit was designed and fabricated for biasing. The measured results confirmed a tunable phase range of 150° at 23.8 GHz. The disagreements between the simulated and measured results are discussed, and a test process is proposed. As a proof of concept, the main beam was steered to 0°, −40°, and −60° in one plane. The result confirmed the high beam-steering capability of the proposed reflectarray with measured gains above 18 dB at 23.8 GHz. This work provides useful references for the design and measurement of LC-based reflectarray antennas.

Dual-Band Antenna Hybridizing Folded Transmitarray and Folded Reflectarray

This communication proposes a dual-band antenna hybridizing a folded reflectarray antenna (FRA) and a folded transmitarray antenna (FTA). First, a polarization-rotation transmitarray is designed based on a new Fabry–Perot (FP)-liked phasing element. Unlike its counterparts, this new FP-liked phasing element twists the polarization of electromagnetic (EM) waves and provides sufficient phase tuning range only in the operating band of FTA. In the meantime, in the band of FRA, the transmitarray acts as the polarizing grid, which reflects one polarization while allowing the orthogonally polarized one to pass without affecting its polarization and phase. Second, a polarization-rotation-ground-integrated (PRGI) reflectarray is designed. The reflectarray collimates the EM wave in the band of FRA and twists its polarization by 90°, forming the folded reflectarray. Meanwhile, it also twists the polarization of the EM wave in the band of FTA. By hybridizing the FTA and FRA sharing the same aperture, the proposed design achieves dual-band high-gain radiation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that the FRA and FTA are combined to form a shared aperture antenna, which inherits the advantages of both FRA and FTA, such as high gain, low profile, and reduced blockage effect of the feed. An antenna prototype is fabricated and measured to verify the idea.