volume | PIER Journals

Abstract

Measurements of the complex permittivity and permeability of solids at high electromagnetic field greater than 10 kV/m pose a significant challenge to RF connectors and input amplifiers of the measurement equipment. Specifically, difficulties arise in measuring materials with high imaginary permittivity or low impedance, which act as short circuits, either exceeding the measurement equipment damage threshold or that of the material under test, and/or inducing an unacceptable signal-to-noise in the collected data. In this work, we report the development of a new measurement technique where we introduce an outer air-gap between the material under test and the conductor of a coax airline. The introduced air-gap reduces the effective conductivity of the sample, mitigating damage to the materials under test and allowing for high power measurement. This study compares the ability of air-gap correction methods to recover the complex permittivity and permeability to within 10% of the value measured without an air-gap introduced.

1. Nadaud, K., C. Borderon, R. Renoud, A. Ghalem, A. Crunteanu, L. Huitema, F. Dumas-Bouchiat, P. Marchet, C. Champeaux, and H. W. Gundel, "Domain wall motions in BST ferroelectric thin films in the microwave frequency range," Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 109, No. 26, 1-5, 2016.
doi:10.1063/1.4973451 Google Scholar

2. Borderon, C., R. Renoud, M. Ragheb, and H. W. Gundel, "Description of the low field nonlinear dielectric properties of ferroelectric and multiferroic materials," Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 98, No. 11, 11-13, 2011.
doi:10.1063/1.3567777 Google Scholar

3. Balci, O., E. O. Polat, N. Kakenov, and C. Kocabas, "Graphene-enabled electrically switchable radar-absorbing surfaces," Nature Communications, Vol. 6, 1-9, 2015. Google Scholar

4. Yao, X., X. Kou, and J. Qiu, "Multi-walled carbon nanotubes/polyaniline composites with negative permittivity and negative permeability," Carbon, Vol. 107, 261-267, 2016.
doi:10.1016/j.carbon.2016.05.055 Google Scholar

5. Che, R. C., C. Y. Zhi, C. Y. Liang, and X. G. Zhou, "Fabrication and microwave absorption of carbon nanotubes CoFe₂O₄ spinel nanocomposite," Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 88, No. 3, 1-3, 2006.
doi:10.1063/1.2165276 Google Scholar

6. Lv, R., F. Kang, J. Gu, X. Gui, J. Wei, K. Wang, and D. Wu, "Carbon nanotubes filled with ferromagnetic alloy nanowires: Lightweight and wide-band microwave absorber," Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 93, No. 22, 2006-2009, 2008.
doi:10.1063/1.3042099 Google Scholar

7. Zhang, B., J. Wang, J. Wang, S. Huo, B. Zhang, and Y. Tang, "Microwave absorption properties of lightweight absorber based on Fe₅₀Ni₅₀-coated poly(acrylonitrile) microspheres and reduced graphene oxide composites," Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, Vol. 413, 81-88, 2016.
doi:10.1016/j.jmmm.2016.04.014 Google Scholar

8. Gui, X., W. Ye, J. Wei, K. Wang, R. Lv, H. Zhu, F. Kang, J. Gu, and D. Wu, "Optimization of electromagnetic matching of Fe-filled carbon nanotubes/ferrite composites for microwave absorption," Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, Vol. 42, No. 7, 075002, 2009.
doi:10.1088/0022-3727/42/7/075002 Google Scholar

9. Ganchev, S. I., N. Qaddoumi, S. Bakhtiari, and R. Zoughi, "Calibration and measurement of dielectric properties of finite thickness composite sheets with open-ended coaxial sensors," IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, Vol. 44, No. 6, 1023-1029, 1995.
doi:10.1109/19.475149 Google Scholar

10. Drinovsky, J. and Z. Kejık, "Electromagnetic shielding efficiency measurement of composite materials," Measurement Science Review, Vol. 9, No. 4, 109-112, 2009.
doi:10.2478/v10048-009-0020-8 Google Scholar

11. Havrilla, M. J. and D. P. Nyquist, "Electromagnetic characterization of layered materials via direct and de-embed methods," IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, Vol. 55, No. 1, 158-163, 2006.
doi:10.1109/TIM.2005.861249 Google Scholar

12. Paul, C. R., Analysis of Multiconductor Transmission Lines, Wiley-Interscience, 2008.

13. Nicolson, A. M. and G. F. Ross, "Measurement of the intrinsic properties of materials by time-domain techniques," IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, Vol. 19, No. 4, 377-382, 1970.
doi:10.1109/TIM.1970.4313932 Google Scholar

14. Weir, W. B., "Automatic measurement of complex dielectric constant and permeability at microwave frequencies," Proceedings of the IEEE, Vol. 62, No. 1, 33-36, 1974.
doi:10.1109/PROC.1974.9382 Google Scholar

15. Baker-Jarvis, J., M. D. Janezic, J. H. Grosvenor, Jr., and R. G. Geyer, "Transmission/reflection and short-circuit line methods for measuring permittivity and permeability," NASA STI/Recon Technical Report N, Vol. 93, 12084, 1992. Google Scholar

16. Barry, W., "A broad-band, automated, stripline technique for the simultaneous measurement of complex permittivity and permeability," IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol. 34, No. 1, 80-84, 1986.
doi:10.1109/TMTT.1986.1133283 Google Scholar

17. Hassan, A. M., J. Obrzut, and E. J. Garboczi, "A Q-band free-space characterization of carbon nanotube composites," IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol. 64, No. 11, 3807-3819, 2016.
doi:10.1109/TMTT.2016.2603500 Google Scholar

18. Vanzura, E. J., J. R. Baker-Jarvis, J. H. Grosvenor, and M. D. Janezic, "Intercomparison of permittivity measurements using the transmission/reflection method in 7-mm coaxial transmission lines," IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol. 42, No. 11, 2063-2070, 1994.
doi:10.1109/22.330120 Google Scholar

19. Wang, Y., I. Hooper, E. Edwards, and P. S. Grant, "Gap-corrected thin-film permittivity and permeability measurement with a broadband coaxial line technique," IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol. 64, No. 3, 924-930, 2016. Google Scholar

20. Jamaian, S. S. and T. G. Mackay, "On limitations of the Bruggeman formalism for inverse homogenization," Journal of Nanophotonics, Vol. 4, No. 1, 1-8, 2010.
doi:10.1117/1.3460908 Google Scholar

21. Baker-Jarvis, J., M. D. Janezic, J. H. Grosvenor, and R. G. Geyer, "Transmission/reflection and short-circuit line methods for measuring permittivity and permeability," Tech. Rep., NIST, 1992. Google Scholar

22. Whites, K. W., "Electromagnetic wave propagation through circular waveguides containing radially inhomogeneous lossy media," Tech. Rep., Construction Engineering Research Lab, (ARMY), Champaign, IL, 1989. Google Scholar

23. Fehlen, R. G., Air gap error compensation for coaxial transmission line, Ph.D. dissertation, Air Force Institute, 2006.

24. Mattar, K. E., D. G. Watters, M. E. Brodwin, and L. S. Member, "Influence of wall contacts on measured complex permittivity spectra at coaxial line frequencies," IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol. 39, No. 3, 532-537, 1991.
doi:10.1109/22.75297 Google Scholar

25. Leuchtmann, P. and J. Rufenacht, "On the calculation of the electrical properties of precision coaxial lines," IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, Vol. 53, No. 2, 392-397, 2004.
doi:10.1109/TIM.2003.822719 Google Scholar

26. Kim, S., H. Wakatsuchi, J. J. Rushton, and D. F. Sievenpiper, "Switchable nonlinear metasurfaces for absorbing high power surface waves," Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 108, No. 4, 1-5, 2016. Google Scholar

27. Luo, Z., X. Chen, J. Long, R. Quarfoth, and D. Sievenpiper, "Nonlinear power-dependent impedance surface," IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, Vol. 63, No. 4, 1736-1745, 2015.
doi:10.1109/TAP.2015.2399513 Google Scholar

28. Riddle, B., J. Baker-Jarvis, and J. Krupka, "Complex permittivity measurements of common plastics over variable temperatures," IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, Vol. 51, No. 3, 727-733, 2003.
doi:10.1109/TMTT.2003.808730 Google Scholar

29. Belous, A., O. Ovchar, and D. Mischuk, "Temperature trends of the permittivity in complex oxides of rare-earth elements with perovskite-type structure," Condensed Matter Physics, Vol. 6, No. 2, 251, 2003.
doi:10.5488/CMP.6.2.251 Google Scholar

Mr. John Berns Lancaster

Dr. Daniel Chandler

Dr. Eun Ju Moon

Dr. Ahmed M. Hassan

Dr. Anthony N. Caruso