Microwave Absorption of Living Human Skin Between 8 and 96 GHz

For the study of mm wave thermography and hazards the absorption characteristics of living human skin are determined between 8 and 95 GHz by placing the skin against a thin dielectric film suspended across a rectangular horn and measuring its return loss. The resulting absorption curve increases from 75% at 8 GHz to 95% at 96 GHz. These values are almost twice as high as compared to earlier predictions based on dielectric measurements; however, they agree fairly well with radiometric measurements and provide the basis for very sensitive mm wave thermographs.