Liquid Crystal Materials for Electronically Reconfigurable Antennas: Overview Toward 5G Applications

Abstract

This paper discusses the use of Liquid Crystal (LC) technology for Electronically Reconfigurable Antennas (ERAs) that are essential for future-based 5G communication systems and satellite platforms. This comprehensive study covers the development of liquid crystal performance metrics and the deployment of LC technology for RF front-end antenna systems, ranging from GHz to THz frequency bands. Here, low profile LC varactor with phase shifter-based antenna systems is investigated for beam steering, enabling to scan a wide range with minimum scan time of operation. The LC phase shifter-based antenna has shown an insertion loss of ≪3[Formula: see text]dB for 5G frequency bands and a high figure-of-merit over a bandwidth of 2.5[Formula: see text]GHz with minimum time response of 30[Formula: see text]ms. These LC-based ERAs can feature wide beam scanning angles with high power-handling capability, better efficiency, high linearity with low power consumption for satellite ground terminals and 5G communication systems.