We present a new technique for broadband liquid characterization using a semi-open, vertically oriented test cell that is measured with a calibrated vector network analyzer in three states: the empty one and filled with two different volumes of the liquid under test. Using the measurements, we de-embed a transfer matrix representing a volume increment of the liquid sample and determine its column height with a novel closed-form formula. Thanks to the de-embedding, the method enables one, for the first time, to completely remove effects caused by a reproducible meniscus forming the top surface of a liquid tested in the cell and determine not only the propagation constant, but also characteristic impedance of the liquid sample, from which its permittivity and permeability are calculated. The results are highly consistent, because all the measurements are performed without disassembling the cell. We validate experimental results of the meniscus removal method by comparing them with reference data and outcomes of the Nicolson–Ross–Weir method.

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We review and compare three different methods for characterization of precision adapters. Two of the methods are one-port techniques using two different reflective terminations in the one case and a matched load and multiple lines with reflective terminations in the other. The third technique is a conventional two-port adapter-removal technique. The intrinsic efficiencies of several different adapters are measured with each technique, and the results are compared. The results usually agree within about 0.005 for efficiencies near one. In all cases, the differences are consistent with the estimated uncertainties of the techniques, which range from about 0.002 to about 0.012, depending on the method, connectors, and frequency.