Ridge waveguide resonant cavity for measuring dielectric constants

Claim 1

A RESONANT CAVITY TO OPERATE IN THE TE10 MODE FOR MEASURING DIELECTRIC PROPERTIES OF SOLID MATERIALS, SAID CAVITY COMPRISING A SECTION OF RIDGE WAVEGUIDE HAVING A LENGTH APPROXIMATING AN INTEGRAL NUMBER OF ONE-HALF WAVEGUIDE WAVELENGTHS AT THE DESIRED TEST FREQUENCY AND A RIDGE GAP EXTENDING THE FULL LENGTH OF SAID SECTION; THE CROSS SECTION OF THE WAVEGUIDE BEING DIMENSIONED SO THAT THE TEST FREQUENCY IS GREATER THAN THE CROSS SECTION CUTOFF FREQUENCY AND LESS THAN THE SELF-RESONANT FREQUENCY OF THE TE20 MODE, AN END WALL ON EACH END OF SAID WAVEGUIDE SECTION, AN OPENING OF SQUARE CROSS SECTION THROUGH ONE OF SAID WALLS IN ALIGNMENT WITH THE GAP TO RECEIVE A TEST SPECIMEN HAVING SUBSTANTIALLY THE SAME CROSS SECTION DIMENSIONS AS SAID OPENING SO THAT SAID SPECIMEN MAY BE GUIDED INTO AND COMPLETELY FILL SAID GAP, MEANS FOR FILLING SAID CAVITY WITH A LIQUID DIELECTRIC MATERIAL, A COUPLING MEANS FOR EXCITING SAID CAVITY WITH ELECTRIC ENERGY, AND MEANS FOR COUPLING A DETECTOR TO SAID CAVITY TO MEASURE THE AMPLITUDE AND FREQUENCY OF THE RESONANT ENERGY IN SAID CAVITY.