Basic Performance of Rectangular Waveguide Type Liquid Crystal Phase Shifter Driven by Magnetic Field

Rectangular waveguide type phase shifter, working in the millimeter-wave region, is prepared by confining a nematic liquid crystal (LC) material in U-band rectangular waveguide. Since it is difficult to expect the help of surface alignment effects from the cell walls for the LC molecular orientation control in the huge cell, switching off speed becomes extremely slow in all kinds of driving methods. In this work, magnetic field drive method is adopted for the metal surrounded cell and a vector-controlled magnetic field is applied by using quadrupole electric magnet for versatile control of the LC molecular orientation.