Hybrid Fishnet Metamaterial Based on Liquid Crystal and P-I-N Diodes for Reconfigurable Transmitarrays at <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$10 \,\mathrm{GHz}$</tex-math></inline-formula>

This article presents a reconfigurable unit cell for transmitarrays at <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$10 \,\mathrm{GHz}$</tex-math></inline-formula> based on the fishnet metamaterial structure. The proposed design achieves a phase shift of up to <inl...

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Main Authors: Adrian Diepolder, Lukas Schmidt, Susanne Brandl, Philipp Hinz, Christian Waldschmidt, Christian Damm
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2025-01-01
Series:IEEE Journal of Microwaves
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10817118/
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author Adrian Diepolder
Lukas Schmidt
Susanne Brandl
Philipp Hinz
Christian Waldschmidt
Christian Damm
author_facet Adrian Diepolder
Lukas Schmidt
Susanne Brandl
Philipp Hinz
Christian Waldschmidt
Christian Damm
author_sort Adrian Diepolder
collection DOAJ
description This article presents a reconfigurable unit cell for transmitarrays at <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$10 \,\mathrm{GHz}$</tex-math></inline-formula> based on the fishnet metamaterial structure. The proposed design achieves a phase shift of up to <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$180 \mathrm{^{\circ }}$</tex-math></inline-formula> between different states and additional tunability in each phase state by switching the electric response using p-i-n diodes and simultaneously tuning the magnetic response by employing liquid crystal. Thus, it offers the potential to overcome the limitations of switchable unit cells with few discrete phase states in terms of achievable antenna gain and side lobe level. With an insertion loss of <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$1.8$</tex-math></inline-formula>&#x2013;<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$2.5 \,\mathrm{dB}$</tex-math></inline-formula> in combination with its high phase tunability it exhibits much higher performance than designs using only liquid crystal. A lumped-element model for prediction of the unit cell behavior is proposed, allowing to reduce the number of full-wave simulations during performance analysis. The biasing network for the liquid crystal is designed for integration in an active-matrix configuration, greatly reducing the complexity of the control circuit. To verify the proposed design, a single unit cell prototype is manufactured and measured inside a waveguide simulator, demonstrating good agreement with full-wave simulations.
format Article
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institution Kabale University
issn 2692-8388
language English
publishDate 2025-01-01
publisher IEEE
record_format Article
series IEEE Journal of Microwaves
spelling doaj-art-c701f01b561b489093f682958b1f34d62025-01-15T00:04:00ZengIEEEIEEE Journal of Microwaves2692-83882025-01-01519610710.1109/JMW.2024.351877210817118Hybrid Fishnet Metamaterial Based on Liquid Crystal and P-I-N Diodes for Reconfigurable Transmitarrays at <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$10 \,\mathrm{GHz}$</tex-math></inline-formula>Adrian Diepolder0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9241-8935Lukas Schmidt1Susanne Brandl2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5012-0658Philipp Hinz3https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5746-9713Christian Waldschmidt4https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2090-6136Christian Damm5Institute of Microwave Engineering, Ulm University, Ulm, GermanyInstitute of Microwave Engineering, Ulm University, Ulm, GermanyInstitute of Microwave Engineering, Ulm University, Ulm, GermanyInstitute of Microwave Engineering, Ulm University, Ulm, GermanyInstitute of Microwave Engineering, Ulm University, Ulm, GermanyInstitute of Microwave Engineering, Ulm University, Ulm, GermanyThis article presents a reconfigurable unit cell for transmitarrays at <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$10 \,\mathrm{GHz}$</tex-math></inline-formula> based on the fishnet metamaterial structure. The proposed design achieves a phase shift of up to <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$180 \mathrm{^{\circ }}$</tex-math></inline-formula> between different states and additional tunability in each phase state by switching the electric response using p-i-n diodes and simultaneously tuning the magnetic response by employing liquid crystal. Thus, it offers the potential to overcome the limitations of switchable unit cells with few discrete phase states in terms of achievable antenna gain and side lobe level. With an insertion loss of <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$1.8$</tex-math></inline-formula>&#x2013;<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$2.5 \,\mathrm{dB}$</tex-math></inline-formula> in combination with its high phase tunability it exhibits much higher performance than designs using only liquid crystal. A lumped-element model for prediction of the unit cell behavior is proposed, allowing to reduce the number of full-wave simulations during performance analysis. The biasing network for the liquid crystal is designed for integration in an active-matrix configuration, greatly reducing the complexity of the control circuit. To verify the proposed design, a single unit cell prototype is manufactured and measured inside a waveguide simulator, demonstrating good agreement with full-wave simulations.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10817118/Active transmitarray antennasreconfigurable antennasactive unit celldiscrete lenstunabilitymetamaterials
spellingShingle Adrian Diepolder
Lukas Schmidt
Susanne Brandl
Philipp Hinz
Christian Waldschmidt
Christian Damm
Hybrid Fishnet Metamaterial Based on Liquid Crystal and P-I-N Diodes for Reconfigurable Transmitarrays at <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$10 \,\mathrm{GHz}$</tex-math></inline-formula>
IEEE Journal of Microwaves
Active transmitarray antennas
reconfigurable antennas
active unit cell
discrete lens
tunability
metamaterials
title Hybrid Fishnet Metamaterial Based on Liquid Crystal and P-I-N Diodes for Reconfigurable Transmitarrays at <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$10 \,\mathrm{GHz}$</tex-math></inline-formula>
title_full Hybrid Fishnet Metamaterial Based on Liquid Crystal and P-I-N Diodes for Reconfigurable Transmitarrays at <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$10 \,\mathrm{GHz}$</tex-math></inline-formula>
title_fullStr Hybrid Fishnet Metamaterial Based on Liquid Crystal and P-I-N Diodes for Reconfigurable Transmitarrays at <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$10 \,\mathrm{GHz}$</tex-math></inline-formula>
title_full_unstemmed Hybrid Fishnet Metamaterial Based on Liquid Crystal and P-I-N Diodes for Reconfigurable Transmitarrays at <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$10 \,\mathrm{GHz}$</tex-math></inline-formula>
title_short Hybrid Fishnet Metamaterial Based on Liquid Crystal and P-I-N Diodes for Reconfigurable Transmitarrays at <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$10 \,\mathrm{GHz}$</tex-math></inline-formula>
title_sort hybrid fishnet metamaterial based on liquid crystal and p i n diodes for reconfigurable transmitarrays at inline formula tex math notation latex 10 mathrm ghz tex math inline formula
topic Active transmitarray antennas
reconfigurable antennas
active unit cell
discrete lens
tunability
metamaterials
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10817118/
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