Variable dielectric delay lines in liquid crystals for Phased Array Feeds

In this project we seek to exploit a novel liquid crystal (LC) technology, which allows a controllable true time delay (TTD) to be applied to an RF signal of frequencies up to tens of Giga-Hertz. The basic technology has already been demonstrated and has a wide variety of applications. We now intend to use this technology to construct a real astronomical demonstration system for delay lines and show that these can be integrated into the beamforming module of an existing Phased Array Feed (PAF) instrument, dramatically improving its capabilities.