Microwave Polymer Dispersed Liquid Crystal Loaded Variable Phase Shifter

We discuss a method for the production of microwave polymer dispersed liquid crystal devices and show how to obtain a fine grained uniform fibrous polymer network. With a layer thickness of 50 μm, an applied voltage of 100 V and a polymer concentration of 7 wt%, we show that the decay time can be reduced to about 1/30th that of a plain liquid crystal at the expense of an increase in rise time of about 2.5 times and a deterioration of dielectric birefringence of about 50%. Finally we discuss the results obtained with a prototype polymer dispersed liquid crystal loaded variable phase shifter in the 15 GHz band.