A wide-band dielectric characterization system for liquid materials of interest in biology

In many fields of applied research interest exists for wideband dielectric characterization of liquid materials; for example, aqueous solutions of biological materials. For this purpose a particular procedure is proposed, based on the use of a Vectorial Network Analyzer and a suitably designed reflection test cell which contains the material under test. Fundamental features of this method are: (1) dielectric characterization directly in the frequency domain without the use of a Fourier inverse transformation process, as required when Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) techniques are used; (2) wide-band measurement in a very short time; (3) the need for much less test material than required by commercial dielectric probes.