Millimeter Wave Dielectric Properties of Materials

Highly accurate continuous spectra of the absorption coefficient and refractive index of some potentially useful materials have been made over the 60-420 GHz range. Measurements have been made on some common ceramic, semiconductor, crystalline and glass materials. The absorption coefficient of low loss materials increases with frequency which implies that microwave data cannot be used for the design of millimeter wave dielectric waveguides, devices, windows and quasi-optical elements. The data in this paper show the millimeter wave frequency dependence of tan δ, the real and imaginary parts of the dielectric permittivity and the optical constants, namely, the refractive index and absorption coefficient. The measurements have been made in a plane-wave Michelson interferometer operating as a polarizing, dispersive Fourier transform spectrometer. The accuracy and reproducability of the refractive index is six significant figures.