Reconfigurable bowtie antenna using a nematic liquid crystal

Design, simulation, fabrication, and measurement of a reconfigurable bowtie antenna operating at 2 GHz and featuring a nematic liquid crystal (LC), with controllable frequency response in a continuous range, are reported in this paper. The bowtie elements are printed onto two separate and overlappin...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Mee, B, Morris, S, Coon, J, Elston, S, Stevens, C, Grant, P, Zheng, Q
Format: Conference item
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2023
Description
Summary:Design, simulation, fabrication, and measurement of a reconfigurable bowtie antenna operating at 2 GHz and featuring a nematic liquid crystal (LC), with controllable frequency response in a continuous range, are reported in this paper. The bowtie elements are printed onto two separate and overlapping substrates, each fed with a microstrip network, with LC infiltrated between the substrates. An external heat source is used to control the dielectric permittivity of the LC and alter the operation frequency of the antenna. The ability to reconfigure the bowtie across a continuous range of 21 MHz with a reduction in antenna efficiency of 11\% is practically demonstrated. Additional modelling, employed in conjunction with data on two alternate LC mixtures suggest a continuously reconfigurable frequency range of 30 MHz without altering antenna performance, and a range of 85 MHz with a 6\% reduction in antenna efficiency, can be achieved.