Power relations in a dielectric slab for complex dielectric constant modelling of biological tissue at microwave frequencies

The human head absorbs microwave power from handheld communications transmitting antennas. Physical experiments to investigate the received power often require phantom materials. Modelling the system as a two-dimensional dielectric slab provides insight into the dependence of the absorption on the complex dielectric constant of the material. The absorption decreases with increasing slab conductivity after an initial maximum. The approach also offers the identification of alternative, and perhaps more conveniently realizable, complex dielectric constants for biological tissue phantoms.