Voltage-controlled ferroelectric lens phased arrays

A new concept for phased arrays is proposed using a voltage-controlled ferroelectric lens. The ferroelectric lens concept uniquely incorporates bulk phase shifting-the array does not contain individual phase shifters-using ferroelectric material. This will reduce the number of phase shifters from (n/spl times/m) to (n+m), where n is the number of columns and m is the number of rows in a phased array. The number of phase shifter drivers and phase shifter controls is also significantly reduced by using row-column beam steering. Thus, the ferroelectric lens concept can potentially lead to low-cost phased arrays. This paper presents the ferroelectric lens concept, theoretical analysis and design, and experimental results. The results indicate that the ferroelectric lens concept is viable and sound. Various phased-array configurations using ferroelectric lens are included. A discussion on ferroelectric materials is included along with information on a US Department of Defense program to improve ferroelectric materials.