Science Daily March 6, 2023
Conventional phase shifters suffer from signal losses which increase as the phase angle increases, and the phase varies with frequency, causing signal degradation, impaired performance, increased power consumption, etc. Researchers in the UK have created a new type of high-performance ‘phase shifter’ using a liquid Gallium alloy, which varies the phase angle of microwave and millimetre-wave radio signals. The results of prototype testing showed that, in the new phase shifter signal losses were low, and almost independent of phase angle. It has a ‘phase compensation’ technique that provides extremely low phase deviation with frequency over a wide bandwidth. The new phase shifter does not need cleanroom facilities for fabrication. The liquid-metal enabled phase shifting elements have a ‘passive’ nature, unlike the ‘active’ semiconductor-based counterparts, which potentially offers high power-handling capability. According to the researchers their phase shifters may find a wide range of usages from communications and radars to instruments… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ