Analysis and Design of Tunable THz 1-D Leaky-Wave Antennas Based on Nematic Liquid Crystals
Source abstract
Abstract
The tunable properties of nematic liquid crystals (NLC) are here exploited in a peculiar leaky waveguide with artificial magnetic conductors as the lateral walls, a bottom metal ground plane, and a homogenized metasurface on top to obtain dynamic beamsteering at a fixed terahertz frequency. The waveguide consists of an NLC cell sandwiched between two dielectric layers. The proposed antenna system works on its transverse-magnetic leaky mode and is capable of radiating a beam that scans either by frequency or by changing the bias voltage applied across the NLC cell. The design parameters are optimized through a rigorous modal analysis of the structure, and the radiation performance is validated through full-wave simulations. The results are promising for the realization of next-generation tunable terahertz leaky-wave antennas.
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Research context
OpenAlex topics: Advanced Antenna and Metasurface Technologies · Metamaterials and Metasurfaces Applications · Microwave Engineering and Waveguides
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto per la Microelettronica e Microsistemi, 00133 Rome, Italy
Azure Cloud and AI, Microsoft, 20154 Milan, Italy
Department of Information Engineering, Electronics and Telecommunications, Sapienza University of Rome, 00184 Rome, Italy
Funding
“Ecosistemi dell’Innovazione”—Rome Technopole of the Italian Ministry of University and Research · European Union, Next GenerationEU
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