Liquid crystal millimeter wave electronic phase shifter

1993 ◽  
Vol 62 (10) ◽  
pp. 1065-1067 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. C. Lim ◽  
J. D. Margerum ◽  
A. M. Lackner
Keyword(s):  
Liquid Crystal ◽  
Millimeter Wave ◽  
Phase Shifter ◽  
Electronic Phase

scholarly journals Temperature Characterization of Liquid Crystal Dielectric Image Line Phase Shifter for Millimeter-Wave Applications

Crystals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 63
Author(s):  
Henning Tesmer ◽  
Rani Razzouk ◽  
Ersin Polat ◽  
Dongwei Wang ◽  
Rolf Jakoby ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Liquid Crystal ◽  
Millimeter Wave ◽  
Insertion Loss ◽  
Phase Shifter ◽  
Ground Plane ◽  
Temperature Dependent ◽  
Differential Phase ◽  
Dependent Behavior ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Temperature Dependent Behavior

In this paper we investigate the temperature dependent behavior of a liquid crystal (LC) loaded tunable dielectric image guide (DIG) phase shifter at millimeter-wave frequencies from 80 GHz to 110 GHz for future high data rate communications. The adhesive, necessary for precise fabrication, is analyzed before temperature dependent behavior of the component is shown, using the nematic LC-mixture GT7-29001. The temperature characterization is conducted by changing the temperature of the LC DIG’s ground plane between −10∘C and 80 ∘C. The orientation of the LC molecules, and therefore the effective macroscopic relative permittivity of the DIG, is changed by inserting the temperature setup in a fixture with rotatable magnets. Temperature independent matching can be observed, while the insertion loss gradually increases with temperature for both highest and lowest permittivity of the LC. At 80 ∘C the insertion loss is up to 1.3dB higher and at −10∘C it is 0.6dB lower than the insertion loss present at 20 ∘C. In addition, the achievable differential phase is reduced with increasing temperature. The impact of molecule alignment to this reduction is shown for the phase shifter and an estimated 85% of the anisotropy is still usable with an LC DIG phase shifter when increasing the temperature from 20 ∘C to 80 ∘C. Higher reduction of differential phase is present at higher frequencies as the electrical length of the phase shifter increases. A maximum difference in differential phase of 72∘ is present at 110 GHz, when increasing the temperature from 20 ∘C to 80 ∘C. Nevertheless, a well predictable, quasi-linear behavior can be observed at the covered temperature range, highlighting the potential of LC-based dielectric components at millimeter wave frequencies.

scholarly journals Potential of Liquid-Crystal Materials for Millimeter-Wave Application

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 2544 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toshiaki Nose ◽  
Ryota Ito ◽  
Michinori Honma
Keyword(s):  
Liquid Crystal ◽  
Millimeter Wave ◽  
Microstrip Line ◽  
Phase Shifter ◽  
Substrate Surface ◽  
Antenna System ◽  
Phase Shifters ◽  
Phased Array Antenna ◽  
Electric Circuits ◽  
Line Type

In this study, we reviewed three topics regarding the application of liquid-crystal (LC) materials to millimeter-wave (MMW) devices. It is essential to develop useful measurement methods for refractive indices of LC materials in the MMW region. Herein, a novel measurement method using optical short is demonstrated using a Si semiconductor substrate. There are two approaches to develop MMW LC devices. One is the quasi-optical approach, which involves scaling up the optical components, and the other approach involves integrating the LC materials into high-frequency electric circuits. A three-dimensional (3D) printer is used to fabricate the Fresnel lens, which is a typical quasi-optical device useful in the MMW region, where we can develop the tunable lens by introducing LC materials. A planar-type MMW waveguide is advantageous for integrating the LC materials to develop LC MMW devices using the second approach. We investigated a useful microstrip-line-type LC phase shifter by developing a novel conversion circuit to introduce the LC material onto the dielectric substrate surface. A phase shifter is an important MMW component that is used to attain a phased array antenna system, and a minimal twin antenna array is demonstrated using the microstrip-line-type LC phase shifters.

scholarly journals Microwave Liquid Crystal Enabling Technology for Electronically Steerable Antennas in SATCOM and 5G Millimeter-Wave Systems

Crystals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 514 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rolf Jakoby ◽  
Alexander Gaebler ◽  
Christian Weickhmann
Keyword(s):  
Liquid Crystal ◽  
Phase Shift ◽  
Millimeter Wave ◽  
Phase Shifter ◽  
Beam Steering ◽  
Phase Shifters ◽  
Worst Case ◽  
Differential Phase Shift ◽  
Digital Architecture ◽  
Differential Phase

Future satellite platforms and 5G millimeter wave systems require Electronically Steerable Antennas (ESAs), which can be enabled by Microwave Liquid Crystal (MLC) technology. This paper reviews some fundamentals and the progress of microwave LCs concerning its performance metric, and it also reviews the MLC technology to deploy phase shifters in different topologies, starting from well-known toward innovative concepts with the newest results. Two of these phase shifter topologies are dedicated for implementation in array antennas: (1) wideband, high-performance metallic waveguide phase shifters to plug into a waveguide horn array for a relay satellite in geostationary orbit to track low Earth orbit satellites with maximum phase change rates of 5.1°/s to 45.4°/s, depending on the applied voltages, and (2) low-profile planar delay-line phase shifter stacks with very thin integrated MLC varactors for fast tuning, which are assembled into a multi-stack, flat-panel, beam-steering phased array, being able to scan the beam from −60° to +60° in about 10 ms. The loaded-line phase shifters have an insertion loss of about 3 dB at 30 GHz for a 400° differential phase shift and a figure-of-merit (FoM) > 120°/dB over a bandwidth of about 2.5 GHz. The critical switch-off response time to change the orientation of the microwave LCs from parallel to perpendicular with respect to the RF field (worst case), which corresponds to the time for 90 to 10% decay in the differential phase shift, is in the range of 30 ms for a LC layer height of about 4 µm. These MLC phase shifter stacks are fabricated in a standard Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) process for manufacturing low-cost large-scale ESAs, featuring single- and multiple-beam steering with very low power consumption, high linearity, and high power-handling capability. With a modular concept and hybrid analog/digital architecture, these smart antennas are flexible in size to meet the specific requirements for operating in satellite ground and user terminals, but also in 5G mm-wave systems.

scholarly journals A millimeter-wave quasi-optical grid phase shifter using liquid crystal

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 67-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatsuo Nozokido ◽  
Satoshi Maede ◽  
Noriyuki Miyasaka ◽  
Hiroyuki Okada ◽  
Toshiaki Nose ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Liquid Crystal ◽  
Millimeter Wave ◽  
Phase Shifter ◽  
Optical Grid

Modeling, Synthesis and Characterization of a Millimeter-Wave Multilayer Microstrip Liquid Crystal Phase Shifter

1997 ◽  
Vol 36 (Part 1, No. 7A) ◽  
pp. 4409-4413 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fréderic Guérin ◽  
Jean-Marc Chappe ◽  
Pascal Joffre ◽  
Daniel Dolfi
Keyword(s):  
Liquid Crystal ◽  
Millimeter Wave ◽  
Phase Shifter ◽  
Crystal Phase ◽  
Synthesis And Characterization ◽  
Liquid Crystal Phase
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