7mm coax sample Holder with teflon standard sample in various stages of assembly

The key to this holder is making the sample a bead. Each sample has an inner and outer conductor permanently (or semi-permanently) attached. This allows samples to fit very tightly (if sample is formed by machining) and be safely handled without damage.

To summarize:

• Sample is a bead
• eliminates or minimizes gaps (depending on whether sample is cast or machined)
• sample position is precisely known (no NIST correction necessary)
• Samples can be easily and safely handled (e.g., allowed the study of very fragile samples like sol-gels)
• Measurement of thin samples possible
• Holder can be easily configured to do coaxial discontinuity measurements, simplifying sample preparation (no center conductor – GAPs next generation design is even better suited for this type of configuration)
• Unique simple sample preparation schemes (casting and coring)

This sample holder was the work horse of an extremely successful materials R&D program. It is a proven technology that still defines the state-of-the-art in making electromagnetic measurements of materials