Method and apparatus for measuring temperature

Abstract

A method for determining concentration of at least one component of the material, the method comprising: measuring at least one of the real and imaginary parts of the permittivity of the material at each of a first plurality of frequencies for which substantially only a second plurality of known components of the material contributes to the dielectric permittivity of the material, wherein for each of the known components the permittivity as a function of temperature is known and the first plurality is greater than the second plurality; determining the concentration of at least one of the known components responsive to a solution of a set of simultaneous equations determined by the first plurality of measurements and the dependence of the permittivities of the known components on temperature.

1 . A method for determining temperature of a material comprising: 
 measuring at least one of the real and imaginary parts of the permittivity of the material at each of at least one frequency for which substantially only a plurality of known components of the material contributes to the dielectric permittivity of the material, wherein for each of the known components the permittivity as a function of temperature is known and concentration of the component relative to the others of the plurality of known components is known; and    using at least one of the determined real and imaginary parts of the permittivity at each of the at least one frequency and the dependence of the permittivities of the known components on temperature to determine temperature of the material.    
   
   
       2 . A method for determining an amount of radiation absorbed by a material comprising: 
 illuminating the material with the radiation between a first time and a second time;    measuring at least one of the real and imaginary parts of the permittivity of the material at first and second temperatures at each of at least one frequency for which substantially only at least one known component of the material contributes to the dielectric permittivity of the material, wherein for each of the at least one known component the permittivity as a function of temperature is known and concentration of the component relative to the others of the at least one known component is known;    using at least one of the measured real and imaginary parts of the permittivity at the first and second times at each of the at least one frequency, the dependence of the permittivity of each of the at least one known components on temperature and their relative concentrations, to determine a difference of temperature between the first and second times; and    using the difference to determine an amount of energy absorbed from the radiation by the material.    
   
   
       3 . A method for determining concentration of at least one component of the material, the method comprising: 
 measuring at least one of the real and imaginary parts of the permittivity of the material at each of a first plurality of frequencies for which substantially only a second plurality of known components of the material contributes to the dielectric permittivity of the material, wherein for each of the known components the permittivity as a function of temperature is known and the first plurality is greater than the second plurality; and    determining the concentration of at least one of the known components responsive to a solution of a set of simultaneous equations determined by the first plurality of measurements and the dependence of the permittivities of the known components on temperature.    
   
   
       4 . A method according to  claim 3  and further comprising determining the temperature of the material.  
   
   
       5 . A method according to  claim 3  wherein the material is living tissue.  
   
   
       6 . A method according to  claim 3  wherein the component is water.  
   
   
       7 . A method for determining temperature and concentration of a component of a material, the method comprising: 
 measuring at least one of the real and imaginary part of the permittivity of the material at each of at least one frequency for which substantially only a single known component of the material contributes to the dielectric permittivity of the material and for which known component the permittivity as a function of temperature is known;    using at least one of the determined real and imaginary part of the permittivity at each of the at least one frequency and the dependence of the permittivity of the known component on temperature to determine temperature of the known component and thereby of the material; and    determining the concentration of the component responsive to the determined temperature and dependence of the permittivity of the component on temperature.    
   
   
       8 . A method according to  claim 7  wherein using at least one of the measured real and imaginary part of the permittivity to determine temperature, comprises determining a value for a ratio between the real and imaginary parts of the permittivity measured at a same frequency of the at least one frequency and determining temperature from the value.  
   
   
       9 . A method according to  claim 7  wherein the at least one frequency comprises a plurality of frequencies.  
   
   
       10 . A method according to  claim 9  wherein using the measured real and/or imaginary part of the permittivity to determine temperature comprises determining a value for a ratio between the real or imaginary part of the permittivity at a first frequency of the plurality of frequencies and the real or imaginary part of the permittivity at the second frequency of the plurality of frequencies and determining temperature from the value.  
   
   
       11 . A method according to  claim 7  wherein the material is living tissue.  
   
   
       12 . A method according to  claim 7  wherein the component is water.