Dielectric characterization of 3D printed materials with a confocal Fabry Perot resonator for space utilization

3D printing has enabled the advancement of rapid prototyping, reduced interface structures, and model to production components with no hand labor. Materials from titanium to plastic and even sugars/proteins have been 3D printed. Advancements in the industry have even led to extruders capable of mixing conductive and dielectric materials in a single step process. This has obvious applications for both antennas and metamaterial tailored Electro-Magnetic structures. However, to model future antenna concepts, these materials must be characterized. Similar to mechanical testing, sample printing orientation must also be considered as the quality of the finish changes with different orientations and may impact higher frequencies. This paper will show one process of characterizing a sheet of printed paper using a focused Gaussian beam Fabry Perot resonator that utilizes a spot size of sufficient size to compensate for printing inconsistencies or metamaterial features and represents the structure as a whole.