Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T11:40:08.798Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Liquid crystal-based tunable CRLH-transmission line for leaky wave antenna applications at Ka-Band

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2014

María Roig*
Affiliation:
Institute for Microwave Engineering and Photonics, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany. Phone: + 49 6151 16-75201
Matthias Maasch
Affiliation:
Institute for Microwave Engineering and Photonics, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany. Phone: + 49 6151 16-75201
Christian Damm
Affiliation:
Institute for Microwave Engineering and Photonics, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany. Phone: + 49 6151 16-75201
Rolf Jakoby
Affiliation:
Institute for Microwave Engineering and Photonics, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany. Phone: + 49 6151 16-75201
*
Corresponding author: M. Roig Email: roig@imp.tu-darmstadt.de

Abstract

In this work, a liquid crystal based tunable composite right/left-handed transmission line for future leaky wave antennas working at the Ka-band is presented. The tuning of the liquid crystal is achieved by means of magnetic and electric biasing. For this purpose, different prototypes are fabricated for each biasing technique and their dispersive characteristics compared. Electric tunability is achieved by implementing highly resistive bias lines in the unit cell layout. Both techniques yield similar tuning capabilities at the operation frequency of 27GHz whereas the electric one has the advantage of being easily integratable in the layout.

Type
Research Paper
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and the European Microwave Association 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

[1]Jackson, D.; Caloz, C.; Itoh, T.: Leaky-wave antennas. Proc. IEEE, 100 (7) (2012), 21942206.Google Scholar
[2]Podilchak, S.; Freundorfer, A.; Antar, Y.M.M.: Broadside radiation from a planar 2-d leaky-wave antenna by practical surface-wave launching. IEEE Antennas Wirel. Propag. Lett., 7 (2008), 517520.Google Scholar
[3]Liu, L.; Caloz, C.; Itoh, T.: Dominant mode leaky-wave antenna with backfire-to-endfire scanning capability. Electron. Lett., 38 (23) (2002), 14141416.Google Scholar
[4]Caloz, C.; Itoh, T.; Rennings, A.: Crlh metamaterial leaky-wave and resonant antennas. IEEE Antennas Propag. Mag., 50 (5) (2008), 2539.Google Scholar
[5]Hashemi, M.; Itoh, T.: Evolution of composite right/left-handed leaky-wave antennas. Proc. IEEE, 99 (10) (2011), 17461754.Google Scholar
[6]Otto, S.; Rennings, A.; Solbach, K.; Caloz, C.: Transmission line modeling and asymptotic formulas for periodic leaky-wave antennas scanning through broadside. IEEE Transact. Antennas Propag., 59 (10) (2011), 36953709.Google Scholar
[7]Paulotto, S.; Baccarelli, P.; Frezza, F.; Jackson, D.: Full-wave modal dispersion analysis and broadside optimization for a class of microstrip CRLH leaky-wave antennas. IEEE Transact. Microw. Theory Tech., 56 (12) (2008), 28262837.Google Scholar
[8]Johnson, R.C.; Jasik, H.: Antenna Engineering Handbook, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY, 1984.Google Scholar
[9]Liu, J.; Jackson, D.; Long, Y.: Substrate integrated waveguide (siw) leaky-wave antenna with transverse slots. IEEE Transact. Antennas Propag., 60 (1) (2012), 2029.Google Scholar
[10]Hashemi, M.; Itoh, T.: Dispersion engineered metamaterial-based transmission line for conformal surface application, in 2008 IEEE MTT-S Int. Microwave Symp. Digest, 2008, 331–334.Google Scholar
[11]Kodera, T.; Caloz, C.: Uniform ferrite-loaded open waveguide structure with CRLH response and its application to a novel backfire-to-endfire leaky-wave antenna. IEEE Transact. Microw. Theory Techn., 57 (4) (2009), 784795.Google Scholar
[12]Lim, S.; Caloz, C.; Itoh, T.: Electronically-controlled metamaterial-based transmission line as a continuous-scanning leaky-wave antenna, in 2004 IEEE MTT-S Int. Microwave Symp. Digest, vol. 1, June 2004, 313–316.Google Scholar
[13]Lim, S.; Caloz, C.; Itoh, T.: Metamaterial-based electronically controlled transmission-line structure as a novel leaky-wave antenna with tunable radiation angle and beamwidth. IEEE Transact. Microw. Theory Tech., 53 (1) (2005), 161173.Google Scholar
[14]Huang, L.; Chiao, J.-C.; De Lisio, P.: An electronically switchable leaky wave antenna. IEEE Transact. Antennas Propag., 48 (11) (2000), 17691772.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
[15]Mueller, S.; Goelden, F.; Scheele, P.; Wittek, M.; Hock, C.; Jakoby, R.: Passive phase shifter for w-band applications using liquid crystals, in 36th Eur. Microwave Conf., 2006, September 2006, 306–309.Google Scholar
[16]Damm, C.; Maasch, M.; Gonzalo, R.; Jakoby, R.: Tunable composite right/left-handed leaky wave antenna based on a rectangular waveguide using liquid crystals, in 2010 IEEE MTT-S Int. Microwave Symp. Digest (MTT), May 2010, 13–16.Google Scholar
[17]Roig, M.; Maasch, M.; Damm, C.; Karabey, O.H.; Jakoby, R.: Liquid crystal based tunable composite right/left-handed leaky-wave antenna for ka-band applications, in 2013 European Microwave Conf. (EuMC), 2013, 759–762.Google Scholar
[18]Caloz, C.; Itoh, T.: Novel microwave devices and structures based on the transmission line approach of meta-materials, in 2003 IEEE MTT-S Int. Microwave Symp. Digest, vol. 1, 2003, 195–198.Google Scholar
[19]Goelden, F.; Gaebler, A.; Mueller, S.; Lapanik, A.; Haase, W.; Jakoby, R.: Liquid-crystal varactors with fast switching times for microwave applications. Electron. Lett., 44 (7) 27 (2008), 480481.Google Scholar