Electrically tunable liquid crystal based composite right/left-handed leaky-wave antenna at 26.7 GHz

A continuously electrically tunable composite right/left-handed leaky-wave antenna based on liquid crystal is presented for Ka-band applications. The antenna features one dimensional beam steering capabilities for a fixed operation frequency. Simulations, vectorial network analysis, and far field measurements of a built prototype are presented in this work together with the detailed fabrication process. Orientation of the LC molecules is done applying a tuning voltage between 0 V and 60 V that leads to a beam steering range from -5 to +9 degrees with respect to broadside at a fixed operation frequency of 26.7 GHz.