Development of Reverberation Chamber Characterization Techniques at Microwave Frequencies

Reverberation Chambers (RC's) are commonly employed for various electromagnetic investigations. As such, characterization of their properties is important to being able to effectively make measurements. Here we report on measurement techniques used to measure the quality factor <tex xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">$(\mathrm{Q})$</tex> of an RC in both the frequency and time domains as well as the electromagnetic field uniformity of an RC at microwave frequencies. Both methodology and results are discussed. Results are further supported with free-space measurements as well as numerical simulation methods. While these techniques are being developed for a fundamental physics application, they widely apply wherever an RC is necessary.