Setup for Characterization of the Non-Linear Electric Susceptibility in the Microwave Range Applied to a Glass Ceramic

A resonator method exciting eigenresonances of three coupled cylindrical dielectric resonators allows characterizing the non-linear response of low loss and high permittivity materials at frequencies of about 1 GHz. To reach the necessary sensitivity for dielectric non-linearities, the setup ensures that the measured intermodulation can be ascribed to the material under test while all other intermodulation sources are excluded. Electric field amplitudes of several V/mm are obtained at an input power of 100 W. The setup was used to characterize the third order non-linear susceptibility of a glass ceramic.