Dielectric constant measurement technique for a dielectric strip using a rectangular waveguide

A dielectric constant measurement technique for dielectric strips is presented in this paper. In the measurement, the strip is placed parallel to the broad walls of a rectangular waveguide, and it is found that the measured reflection coefficient is insensitive to the position of the strip when it is placed around the middle of the waveguide cross section. The new sample placement scheme becomes very convenient, especially when a large number of strips have to be measured. To develop the forward scattering formulation, the reflection coefficient of the strip placed in the waveguide is evaluated using the method of moments. With this forward model, a genetic algorithm is developed to retrieve the dielectric constant of the strip from the measured reflection coefficient. The validity of the calculated reflection coefficient is verified by measuring a Teflon strip in a WR187 waveguide, and the dielectric constant of the Teflon is successfully retrieved from the measurement. For the measurement of many strips, a special sample holder is made to ensure insensitivity of the measured reflection coefficient to the position of the strip.