Broadband permittivity measurement of liquids in a semi-open coaxial test cell with meniscus-effect removal

We introduce a novel method for broadband permittivity measurement of nonmagnetic liquids in a semi-open, vertically-oriented test cell with a calibrated vector network analyzer. This method enables, for the first time, to remove errors caused by a meniscus shaping the top surface of the liquid tested. This error removal is performed mathematically using scattering matrices of the test cell measured at its three states, i.e. an empty cell and two with different volumes of the liquid without disassembling the cell. The permittivity measurement does not require knowledge of the liquid sample heights that are calculated from the electrical measurements. We validate this method experimentally by comparing its results with the reference data.