Liquid crystal based tunable composite right/left-handed leaky-wave antenna for Ka-Band applications

In this work a liquid crystal (LC) based tunable composite right/left-handed leaky-wave antenna operating in the Ka-Band is presented. It features one dimensional beam steering capabilities for fixed operation frequency. Simulated results are confirmed by vectorial network analysis and far field measurements of the built prototype. The design and built-up of the antenna is presented in detail. Biasing of the LC molecules is done by static magnetic fields due to its simplicity although the developed proof-of-concept prototype was already designed to support electric biasing as well. The obtainable beam steering range of -20 to +20 degrees with respect to broadside at a fixed operation frequency of 27 GHz is very promising.