Measuring the dielectric parameters of frozen sand in microwave resonators

We measure the dielectric parameters of frozen sand by using a rectangular cavity resonator at frequencies 5.3–8.4 GHz. The transmission spectrum of the resonator completely filled with frozen sand shows supplementary resonances absent in the case where the resonator is filled with dry homogeneous sand. The difference of the resonance curves was observed for the cases of wetting the sand by ordinary (H2 O) and heavy (D2 O) water. It is supposed that the observed effects are related to percolation due to the existence and specific properties of the conducting liquid films of water on the surfaces of mineral particles. To verify this assumption, we performed measurements for the special medium consisting of a mixture of dry sand and small metal particles. This experiment showed that supplementary resonant peaks in the transmission spectrum of the resonator arise for a certain concentration of metal particles. The same effect is also observed in the case of incomplete filling of the resonator with dry sand. These anomalies can be explained by the appearance of negative dispersion of waves in the waveguide. © 2004 Plenum Publishing Corporation.