The Electro Magnetic Response of Human Skin in Submellimeter Frequency Range

Summary form only given. For more than 50 years a number of phenomena of nonthermal effects (high Q factor resonances) of extremely high frequency microwaves (MMW) on biological systems have been reported. Intriguingly the reported resonant frequencies are virtually absent in natural biological surroundings, making these effect all the more unusual. While some insight has been gained their interpretation has remained controversial. Theoretical ideas discussed in earlier papers in connection with experimental observations have largely proved to be inconclusive, with poor reproducibility and several confounding results. Furthermore there is ample experimental evidence of the beneficiary effects of low power (less than 20 mW/cm 2 ) MMW electromagnetic radiation in a number of therapeutic avenues such as coronary artery disease, various cancers, pain relief, wound regeneration and hyper tension. In short, while there has been extensive documentation and some serious theoretical consideration, the true cause of these phenomena remain a mystery. Clearly a more solid indication of the main biophysical mechanism(s) of the observed effects would offer the possibility to truly exploit these beneficial aspects, in a systematic fashion. In current presentation the other possible mechanisms are proposed and there validity is illustrated by experimental data.