Electronically Reconfigurable Binary Phase Liquid Crystal Reflectarray Metasurface at 108 GHz

We have proposed a preliminary design and computation results of a 20 by 20 elements reconfigurable liquid crystal (LC) based binary phase reflectarray metasurface for applications in THz wireless communication. Specifically, we performed full-wave simulations and theoretical calculations on the far-field patterns of our proposed device, and we also developed optimisation routines for both the antenna unit cell design as well as far-field pattern synthesis algorithms. The LC used was modelled after Merk's model GT3-23001. At optimal operation frequency of 108 GHz, the phase difference between ON and OFF state is 177 degrees, and the reflection amplitudes of both states are 0.88. We were able to demonstrate 60 degrees of beam steering, which was achieved together with a (single beam) RCS of -5.8 dBm2, when the device dimension is only 20mm by 20mm. The operational bandwidth is plus or minus 2 GHz from central frequency of 108 GHz.

[1]  R. Jakoby,et al.  Investigations on 77 GHz tunable reflectarray unit cells with liquid crystal , 2006, 2006 First European Conference on Antennas and Propagation.

[2]  Qiang Cheng,et al.  Coding metamaterials, digital metamaterials and programmable metamaterials , 2014, Light: Science & Applications.

[3]  Tian Yi Chen,et al.  Field-programmable beam reconfiguring based on digitally-controlled coding metasurface , 2016, Scientific Reports.

[4]  Pouria Yaghmaee.  Reconfigurable tunable microwave devices using liquid crystal. , 2014 .

[5]  Afaque Karim,et al.  Design and simulation of LC based patch antenna @ 20 GHz frequency , 2014 .

[6]  Ian F. Akyildiz,et al.  Combating the Distance Problem in the Millimeter Wave and Terahertz Frequency Bands , 2018, IEEE Communications Magazine.

[7]  Vincent Fusco,et al.  Electrical characterisation of liquid crystals at millimetre wavelengths using frequency selective surfaces , 2012 .

[8]  R. Cahill,et al.  Liquid crystal based beam scanning reflectarrays and their potential in SATCOM antennas , 2017, 2017 11th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EUCAP).

[9]  Maokun Li,et al.  A programmable metasurface with dynamic polarization, scattering and focusing control , 2016, Scientific Reports.

[10]  Wolfgang Menzel,et al.  Reconfigurable liquid crystal reflectarray with extended tunable phase range , 2011, 2011 8th European Radar Conference.

[11]  Christophe Fumeaux,et al.  Tunable electric-LC resonators using liquid crystal , 2013, 2013 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium (APSURSI).