Liquid crystal-based optical control of phased array antennas

Author

Riza, Nabeel A.

Author_Institution

General Electric Corp. Res. & Dev. Center, Schenectady, NY, USA

Volume

10

Issue

12

fYear

1992

fDate

12/1/1992 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1974

Lastpage

1984

Abstract

Nematic liquid crystal (NLC) technology-based optical systems for controlling phased array antennas are presented. These systems can provide low-cost, high-quality (>6-b), phase-based antenna control for very large phased arrays (e.g. 5000 elements). An experiment demonstrating NLC-based antenna phase control is performed, with 0-3π phase shift measured for a 60-MHz carrier. A novel time-multiplexed radar beam scanning approach is introduced to counter the slow response of the NLCs, allowing fast 200 beams/s antenna scanning rates

Keywords

antenna phased arrays; liquid crystal devices; nematic liquid crystals; telecommunications control; time division multiplexing; 60 MHz; high-quality; liquid crystal based optical control; low-cost; nematic liquid crystal technology; phase shift; phase-based antenna control; phased array antennas; time-multiplexed radar beam scanning approach; very large phased arrays; Antenna arrays; Control systems; Liquid crystals; Optical arrays; Optical control; Optical variables control; Performance evaluation; Phase control; Phased arrays; Radar antennas;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Lightwave Technology, Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0733-8724

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/50.202805

Filename

202805