A liquid metal based 1-bit reconfigurable reflectarray antenna for beam-scanning applications

In this letter, a 1-bit reconfigurable reflectarray antenna (RRA) using liquid metal with high gain, high aperture efficiency is proposed to realize beam steering. The reflectarray element consists of three layers: the top and bottom layers both have a translucent resin casing with one thin dielectric layer in between. The top layer is a square ring structure while the bottom layer is a complementary structure to the top layer with four channels. The middle layer is a thin dielectric layer for supporting top and bottom layers. The 1 bit state of RRA means the top casing is filled with liquid metal while the bottom casing is the air, otherwise means 0 bit states. The phase difference between two states is nearly 180 degrees which is suitable for designing 1 bit RRA. Finally, a 20x20 reflectarray is designed, simulated and measured to validate the performance. Both simulated and measured results show that the proposed liquid metal based RRA can effectively generate scanning beams within +/- 40 degrees and the maximum measured gain is 24.08dBi with aperture efficiency of 20.36%. The proposed RRA is compact and has structural flexibility using liquid metal, which can be applied in modern wireless communication systems.

Automated summary

In this study, a 1-bit reconfigurable reflectarray antenna (RRA) using liquid metal is proposed for beam steering with high gain and high aperture efficiency. The RRA consists of three layers: the top and bottom layers have a translucent resin casing with a thin dielectric layer in between. The proposed RRA can effectively generate scanning beams within +/- 40 degrees and has a maximum measured gain of 24.08dBi with an aperture efficiency of 20.36%. It has the potential to be applied in modern wireless communication systems.