Liquid crystal based reflectarray for reconfigurable intelligent surface applications

Abstract

In this Letter, a reconfigurable reflectarray (RA) based on liquid crystal (LC) electric controlling property at Ka band is presented. The innovation focuses on measuring the phase steering ability of the whole LC RA with a structure of 4-finger under plane wave incidence and application on the actual scene, which can steer scattering wave to blind spots, not just play a role of EM launcher, but also an relay. Results show the LC RA can steer phase continuously to 213° with bias voltages and beam steering to different directions and different areas are achieved. This work introduces a LC RA as Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface (RIS) that can steer scattered beam to increase receiving power at spot, which can be an application of RIS on wireless communication.