Optical technique for broadband microwave absorption spectroscopy in aqueous media

Precise measurements of microwave absorption over a large range of frequencies in aqueous media are difficult to obtain and can result in conflicting results as a consequences of small differences in instrumentation. Traditional methods of microwave spectroscopy that make use of time-domain spectrometers or network analyzer systems provide only indirect measurement of the microwave absorption coefficient because they measure the real and imaginary parts of the dielectric constant, ε' and ε'', separately. The absorption coefficient must then be calculated from ε' and ε'' taking into account the geometry (e.g., of the waveguide and mode) among other factors. It has been shown that direct measurement of the microwave absorption coefficient α is possible using phase fluctuation optical heterodyne spectroscopy. Taking advantage of this hybrid optical-microwave technique the authors report on a broadband spectrometer with demonstrated accurate operation from 3 to 20 GHz