Planar transmission line method for measurement of dielectric constants of liquid crystals in 60 GHz band

Recent characterizations of liquid crystal (LC) materials invariably use magnetic field for biasing LC. In this paper a transmission line method is proposed for the characterization of the dielectric properties of LC in the 60 GHz band, using electric field bias. In this method a balanced strip line is used to accommodate the LC sample. To facilitate the application of the electric field to the LC and to ease the measurement of the scattering parameters, a unique transition from the balanced strip line to the finite ground coplanar waveguide (FGCPW) is developed. The LC investigated in this paper is the E7 mixture. ©2009 IEEE