Tunable electric-LC resonators using liquid crystal

Abstract

A concept of tunable electric-LC (ELC) resonators is presented in this work. The voltage-controlled tunability is achieved by using liquid crystal in a micro-fluidic channel running through the central capacitive gaps. To attain the largest tunability, the structure is optimized through a parametric analysis using full-wave electromagnetic simulations. The simulation results predict a 6% continuous frequency tuning for this ELC resonator around the frequency of 4.5 GHz. The achieved results demonstrate the possibility of using these ELC resonators in an array to form a tunable frequency selective surfaces (FSS). The principle can be scaled for operation at higher microwave frequencies, where the dissipation of liquid crystal is low.