Characterization of dielectric properties of nematic liquid crystals using an optically-transparent microstrip resonator at 5 GHz

Conference item

This work reports the design, simulation, and fabrication of an optically-transparent microstrip line resonator that is employed to characterize the dielectric properties of a nematic liquid crystal (LC) at a frequency of 5 GHz, to understand the behaviour of LC-based optically-transparent radio frequency devices, and to allow direct observations of the LC through a polarising optical microscope while operating the device. The microstrip line is constructed by etching indium tin oxide (ITO)- coated glass and exploiting the first-order resonance to infer the anisotropic dielectric properties of the nematic LC. Results are compared with a microstrip line device featuring the same geometry but constructed from FR-4 and copper, and full-wave electromagnetic simulations that suggest an accuracy of 95% in the LC dielectric properties.

Authors: Mee, B; Elston, S; Coon, J; Morris, S

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: IEEE
• Pages: 93-96
• Publication date: 2025-08-19
• Acceptance date: 2025-03-01
• Event title: 20th International Symposium on Antenna Technology and Applied Electromagnetics (ANTEM 2025)
• Event location: St. John’s, NL, Canada
• Event website: https://antem2025.ieee.ca/
• Event start date: 2025-07-20
• Event end date: 2025-07-23
• DOI: 10.1109/ANTEM64578.2025.11114129
• EISSN: 2473-3555
• ISSN: 2380-8616
• Language: English