Microwave and millimeter-wave devices including a liquid crystal (LC) layer are increasingly attractive for the use in adaptive and controllable devices. Various types of microwave phase shifters having an LC transmission line have been studied (e.g. microstripline, coplanar waveguide, and rectangular waveguide). In conventional microwave devices, the response time after the removal of voltage is slow because the LC layer in the devices is usually thick. In this study, the time response of the LC permittivity is studied experimentally and theoretically. Experimentally measured response curves having two time constants for decay are examined by using Frank's continuum theory with and without the backflow effect.
