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Title: Scaling of three microwave exposure systems on the basis of averaged whole-body specific absorption rate. Final report, 1 June 1983-1 June 1986

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:6496353

Three systems for exposing small laboratory animals to 2450-MHz microwave radiation were compared using whole-body averaged specific absorption rate (SAR). The three systems were a plane wave propogated in an anechoic chamber, a circularly polarized waveguide, and a multimode cavity. Following calibration of the three systems, a temperature-profile study assessing brain and colonic temperature in rat carcasses was performed. A third study investigated seizures in young mouse pups. There were statistically significant differences between the three systems regarding heat distribution as indicated by brain and colonic temperatures. Exposure in the circularly polarized waveguide resulted in lower temperatures at both sites. However, when young mouse pups were placed in the chambers and exposed at levels calculated to produce whole-body averaged SARs of 90 W/kg, the seizures produced by the plane wave exposures required nearly twice the amount of time as those in the waveguide or multimode cavity. The results suggest that average whole-body SAR should not be used for making comparisons of effects obtained in different exposure systems.

Research Organization:
Tulsa Univ., OK (USA). Dept. of Psychology
OSTI ID:
6496353
Report Number(s):
AD-A-178182/2/XAB
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English