Description: Report discussing microwave attenuation measurement methods and standards. In addition, a relatively new and more precise way of representing and analyzing an attenuation measurement is presented. This in turn permits more rigorous definitions and error analyses than were previously possible. The referral of microwave attenuation measurements to standards operating at lower frequencies is discussed with particular attention to the errors in the referral processes as well as the errors in the standards themselves. Desirable characteristics are listed for attenuators which are suitable for calibration. Measurement methods are classified and described. Comments are made on the accuracy and convenience of various methods, and references are given which cover most of the basic and important research in this field. Key words: Microwave, attenuation, measurements, standards, tutorial.

Description: This article discusses microwave absorption by an array of carbon nanotubes. Abstract: A simple model to explain microwave-induced heating of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) through transformation of electromagnetic energy into mechanical vibrations is proposed and analyzed. The model provides a way to understand recent observations of heating of CNTs exposed to microwaves in the range of 2-20 GHz. It is shown that transverse vibrations of CNTs during microwave irradiation can be associated with parametric resonance, as occurs in the analysis of acoustic experiments on forced longitudinal vibrations of a stretched elastic string. For carbon nanotubes [single wall nanotube (SWNT), double wall nanotube (DWNT), multiwall nanotube (MWNT), ropes, and strands] the resonant parameters are shown to be located in a region of instability of the Mathieu's equation. Wave equations with cubic nonlinearity were used to qualitatively describe the effects of phonon-phonon interactions and energy transfer from microwaves to CNTs at a rate much exceeding the traditional Joule heating via electron-phonon interaction.