Metamaterials tunable with liquid crystals

Abstract

One of the efficient approaches to create tunable metamaterials is to infiltrate them with nematic liquid crystals taking advantages of a variety of tuning strategies employing temperature, external voltage, magnetic field, and power tunability of the parameters of liquid crystals. After infiltration, a hybrid metamaterial composite possesses tunable electromagnetic properties, which can be efficiently controlled by external fields and electromagnetic irradiation. In this chapter, we review different designs of liquid-crystal-infiltrated metamaterial structures for a new generation of tunable microwave, THz, and optical metadevices combining the advantages of metamaterials with the flexibility and large nonlinear response of liquid crystals. Show more