I. Introduction
Dielectric spectroscopy is used to investigate gases, liquids, and solids in the radio, microwave, and terahertz frequency regimes (approximately 10–10). The technique has been successfully applied to biological specimens using various methods of application including time-domain reflectometry [2], [3], transmission lines [4], coaxial probes [5], and microfabricated waveguides [6]. While these studies have yielded potentially useful results, many of them suffer from one or more of the following disadvantages.
Experiments are performed on dry, but “hydrated” samples [3], [7], yielding results that may not be applicable to biomolecules in solution.
Results are qualitative rather than quantitative, i.e., a phenomenon is demonstrated, but its extent is not, or cannot, be further quantified [4].
Results are qualitative, but are not correlated with previously published results obtained with other techniques [8], [9].