Materials For Application In Millimeter And Submillimeter Ranges

 

V.V. Meriakri and Humberto C.C. Fernandes


 

 

 

 Abstract ¾ Properties (complex refractive index, permittivity, transmission and reflection coefficients) of the different materials (liquid and solid dielectrics, semiconductors, ferrites, composite, building, natural and common use materials) at the millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths are presented.  [1]

These properties are of a great interest for millimeter and submillimeter guiding and antenna systems, including passive and active devices inserted in such systems, for millimeter and submillimeter propagation especially for indoor propagation, as well for introscopy problem and for materials and media content testing (first of all for aquametry).

 

  Index Terms ¾ Millimeter and Submillimeter Waves, Semiconductor, Ferrite.

 

                             I. INTRODUCTION

 

There are many papers with results of investigation of the different materials in millimeter (MM) and submillimeter (SMM) ranges. But sometimes it is difficult to compare the results of the different authors. So the National Physical Laboratory (UK) has carried out a complex experiment on intercomparison of measurement techniques of 13 research groups from different countries [1]. The comparison of the results of low loss materials (polyethylene, quartz, rexolite, BeO) properties measurements has shown that the disagreement in measurement of real n and imaginary k parts of complex refractive index by different techniques amounts to 0.3 - 10 % for n and an order of magnitude for k.

Therefore here we present some results of our investigation at frequencies 30-500 GHz of the different material properties (n, k, complex permittivity ) for low loss and lossy dielectrics (including composite and natural materials as well as polar and nonpolar liquids). The same properties for ferroelectrics, semiconductors, and ferrites were measured, as well components of ferrite permeability tensor were determined. For some kind of artificial materials e.g. for clothes effective refractive index neff ,and transmission t and reflection r coefficients were measured.

 

 

 

 

II. MEASUREMENT METHODS AND CIRCUITS

 

 

For measurements in the wavelength range 8 - 0.6 mm we have used beam waveguide technique [2] with backward wave oscillator (BWO) as a source (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1. Here I - resonator for low loss material properties measurement, II -transmission measuring circuit, III - Michelson or Max - Zender interferometer, IV - reflectometer . 1 - BWO, 2 -magnet, 3 - horn, 4 -modulator, 5 -lens, 6 - polarizer, 7 - attenuator, 8 - iris, 9 - receiver, 10 - absorber, 11 - mirror, 12 - beam splitter, 13 - amplifier, 14 - synchronous detector, 15 - digital voltmeter, 16 - storage unit, 17 - voltmeter, 18 - light source, 19 - LED, 20 - power supply.

 

Equipment fig. 1 allows to measure n, k; e1, e2, t, r in very wide intervals n from 1.05 to 20,  from approximately 1 to 10-6,  from 10-5 to 1, and  from »1 to 10-4.

The method of measuring  and , where l -sample thickness, f-frequency, T - temperature appears to be the most universal. In the case of liquids it was used tray of variable thickness with a readout accuracy Dl = ±1 mkm or if absorption is low measurement chamber had short -circuiting plunger making it possible to vary the liquid layer thickness.

 

To determine the k of low loss solid materials with n from 1.3 to 1.6 the  value is measured in immersion liquids featuring practically the same refractive indices and certain absorption.

In interferometer (see III, fig. 1) arg t = j or  are measured using primarily the frequency sweeping technique which eliminates spurious interference effects in the sample and beam path and provides unambiguous determination of the interference order.

Measurements of the  tensor components in ferrites were performed with the aid of an interferometer with circulary polarized waves which are the natural waves of the longitudinally magnetized material. The diagonal, () and non-diagonal () components of  are related to the  of right and left circularly polarized waves. The most accurate method of determination  is by measuring  by reversing the direction of the permanent longitudinally magnetic field. Alternately,  was determined by measuring the Faraday rotation angle q of a linearly polarized wave: .

Of special interest are the measurements double beam refraction and dichroism of crystals ,  (i, j=x, y, z and i¹j). At small , and  when , ,  and  cannot be determined individually with adequate accuracy rotating a sample between polarizers and frequency sweeping were used. There are two adjacent frequencies  corresponding to a circular - polarization waves at the crystal output. These frequencies and the angle of axis i rotation relative to the electrical field vector of the incident wave, and reflection coefficients ,  allow us to find , and .

 

                         III. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

 

Tables I - V present the measured values of n and  or  and  of the main materials under test. Table I presents properties of low loss liquids.

 

 

 

 

 

 

TABLE 1

liquid

n ±0.3%

´103 ±10%

l,m

1

octane

1.396

0.74

0.63

2

nonane

1.405

0.93

0.63

3

decane

1.407

0.83

0.63

4

cyklohexane

1.424

0.5

0.63

5

crude oil

1.47-1.51

0.8 ¸1.5

2.0

 

For practice it is important to know complex permittivity dependence of water content, w,%, in crude oil (Table II).

 

 

TABLE II

l, mm

w, %

e1

e2×102

a×102, dB/mm

10

0.5

1.0

2.16

2.19

1.5

2.5

2.7

4.6

4

0.5

1.0

2.15

2.18

1.6

2.8

7.4

12.8

2

0.5

1.0

2.15

2.17

1.5

2.5

13.8

23.4

 

Table II shows very high dependence a on w%, especially at short MM waves. The same dependence has alcohol - water solution.

Table III presents lossy liquids properties.

 

TABLE III

liquid

 ±5%

±10%

, mm

1

H2O

6.3

8.8

2.0

 

H2O

5.1

5.1

1.03

 

H2O

4.7

4.0

0.74

 

H2O

4.5

3.5

0.58

2

DMCO

3.39

1.6

0.9

3

(CH3)2CO

3.04

3.23

0.99

4

CH3COC2H5

2.69

2.19

1.02

5

CH3NO2

3.19

5.16

1.02

6

C6H10O

2.62

1.06

1.02

 

Low loss polymer properties gives Table IV.

 

TABLE IV

Material

n ±0.5%

´103 ±10%

l,mm

1

Teflon (unsintered

1.35-1.44

0.23-0.26

0.63

2

Teflon (sintered)

1.43

0.7

1.3

3

Polyethylene

1.53

0.6

0.63

4

Polypropylene

1.51

0.6

0.63

5

TPX

1.44

0.41

1.3

6

Polystyrene

1.59

2.4

0.9

7

Rexolite-1422

1.59

2.4

1.0

8

Duroid-5880

1.48

0.9

3.0

9

Teflon -4MB

1.42

1.2

0.63

Here unsintered Teflon has density from 1.3 to 2.2 g/cm3.

The most interesting materials with n > 1.7 properties presents the Table V.

In MM wavelength region there are a lot of very lossy solid materials (first of all ferroelectrics). These materials have  up to 300 and absorption up to 100 dB/mm (BaTiO3, TGS, KDP, La0.5Li0.5TiO3, ferroepoxy and some other materials).

And lastly of interest for communication, nondestructive test and other applications to know building, natural , and clothes materials properties (Tables VI and VII).

In Table 6 less value of  for pine-tree wood corresponds to electrical field vector perpendicular to wood fibers.

So now we have very broad information concerning electromagnetic properties of practically all kinds of materials and media in frequency region 30-500 GHz and have equipment for measurement of such properties.

 

TABLE V

Material

n ±0.5%

´103 ±10%

l,mm

1

SiO2 (crystal)

ne =2.45

0.55

2.18

 

SiO2 (crystal)

no =2.10

0.56

2.18

2

SiO2 (fused)

1.95

1.4

0.85

3

SiO2 (ceramic)

1.92

0.67

1.0

4

Al2O3 (ceramic)

3.10

0.26

2.18

5

BeO

2.63

1.2

1.0

6

MgF2

1.16

0.6

1.2

7

AlN

2.88

0.7

1.4

8

GGG

3.51

1.3

1.15

9

NB

1.72

1.5

0.87

10

MgAl2O4

2.90

1.0

1.0

11

GaAs (r>108 Ohm×cm)

3.60

0.2

2.24

12

Si (r>25×104 Ohm×cm)

3.42

£0.01

1.46

13

YIG, Ni-Zn, Li ferrites

3.54-3.95

0.8-1.5

2.0

 

TABLE VI,  l=2 mm

Material

n ±1%

 ´102 ±20%

1

Brick (r=1.5 g/cm3)

1.8

3.5-4.2

2

Concrete (r=1.7 g/cm3)

2.4

5.0-5.5

3

Asphalt (r=1.3 g/cm3)

1.5

8.0

4

Sand (r=1.8 g/cm3)

1.6

2.5

5

Pine-tree wood (moisture <7%)

1.4

3.4 / 2.0

6

Glass

1.45

5.0

7

Veneer (d=7.6 mm)

1.5

2.6 / 1.4

8

Marble

1.5

1.0

9

Organic glass

1.6

1.5

10

Cardboard

1.8

6.0

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TABLE VII,  l = 1.6 mm

N

material

,%

%

n-1

d, mm

1

Clothes for tents

82 ¸94

£1

0.2 -0.3

0.3 -0.5

2

Clothes coat,wool

77 ¸84

£3

0.1 -0.2

2- 4

3

Clothes suit, wool

85 ¸99

£1

0.20-0.35

0.5 -1.0

4

Silk

89 ¸93

£1

0.28-0.35

0.15-0.25

5

Leather, natural

79 ¸85

£8

0.35-0.45

0.9 -1.5

6

Leather, artifical

87 ¸92

£5

0.22-0.28

0.7 -0.8

7

Fur, artifical

75 ¸89

£3

0.04-0.07

4 -12

8

Fur, natural

70

£1

0.14

35

REFERENCES

[1] J.R.Birch et. al.. , “An intercomparision of measurement techniques for the determination of the dielectric properties of solids at near millimeter wavelengths”, NPL Report DES 115, Oct. 1991.

[2]  V.V.Meriakri et al, “Submillimeter beam spectroscopy and its applications. Problems of Modern Radio Engineering and Electronics”, edd. by V.A.Kotelnikov, pp.179-197, Nauka, Moscow, 1982.

[3] V.V.Meriakri, “Spectroscopy of millimeter and submillimeter ranges”, Moscow University Physics Bulletin, vol. 47, no 3, pp. 81-88, 1992

[4]  V.V.Meriakri and E.E.Chigrai, “Properties of material for practical use at the mm and submm wavelengths”, 17 Int. Conf. on IR and MM waves, Digest, pp.68-69, Colchester, UK, 1993

[5]  V.V.Meriakri, Material properties in the millimeter range, 3 Intern. Kharkov Symposium, “Physics and engineering of mm and submm waves” ,MSMW ’98, Symp. Proc. Vol.1, pp. 121-123, Kharkov,Ukraine, 1998 .

 



[1] V.V.Meriakri, Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics, Russian Academy of Sciences, 1 Vvedensky sq. Fryazino, Moscow region, 141120, Russia  Tel: (095)5269266, Fax: (095)7029572, E-mail: ask@ms.ire.rssi.ru

H.C.C. Fernandes, Department of Electrical Engineering,  Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte P.O. Box 1583, 59072-970-Natal/RN-Brazil

Tel/Fax+55842153731/32;E-mail:humbeccf@ct.ufrn.br. Support CNPQ.

 

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