DIELECTRIC PROPERTIES OF MATERIALS

Consider a parallel plate capacitor. If the vacuum is the dielectric medium inside, some
capacitance is found. However, when the vacuum is replaced by other nonconducting material,
the capacitance increases. i.e., it increases the charge storage capability.

Now the questions are:

1. How? What is the mechanism?

2. How much?

Relative permittivity:

We first consider a parallel plate capacitor with vacuum as the dielectric medium between the
plates, as shown in Figure 7.1 a. The plates are connected to a constant voltage supply . Let
be the charge on the plates. This charge can be easily measured. The capacitance of the
parallel plate capacitor in free space, as in Figure defined by

Created by Md. Raj Masud, Lecturer, Faculty of Enineering, AIUB 
The electric field, directed from high to low potential, is defined by the gradient of the potential
/ . Thus the electric field between the plates is just / where d is the separation
of the plates.

Now a dielectric material slab is inserted into the parallel plate. During the insertion of the
dielectric slab, there is an external current flow that indicates that there is additional charge
being stored on the plates. Charge on the electrodes increases from to . Therefore, the
capacitance also increases from to . The relative permittivity or the dielectric constant is
defined to reflect this increase in the capacitance or the charge storage ability by virtue of having
a dielectric medium. If C is the capacitance with the dielectric medium as in Figure 7.1c, then by
definition,

The increase in the stored charge is due to the polarization of the dielectric by the applied field.

Dipole Moment

An electrical dipole moment is simply a separation between a negative and positive charge of
equal magnitude as shown in Figure 7.2. If a is the vector from the negative to the positive
charge, the electric dipole moment is defined as a vector by

Created by Md. Raj Masud, Lecturer, Faculty of Enineering, AIUB 
Polarization Vector,
Consider the insertion of dielectric slab into the parallel plate capacitor. The placement of the
dielectric slab into an electric field polarizes the molecules in the material. The induced dipole
moments all point in the direction of the field. Consider the polarized medium alone, as shown in
Figure 7.4b. In the bulk of the material, the dipoles are aligned head to tail. Every positive charge
has a negative charge next to it and vice versa. There is there are no net charge within the bulk.
But the positive charges of the dipoles appearing at the right-hand face are not canceled by
negative charges of any dipoles at this face. There is therefore a surface charge on the right-
hand face that results from the polarization of the medium. Similarly, there is a negative charge –
with the same magnitude appearing on the left-hand face.

Created by Md. Raj Masud, Lecturer, Faculty of Enineering, AIUB 
We represent the polarization of a medium by a quantity called polarization P, which is defined
as the total dipole moment per unit volume,
1

Where, , ,…, are the dipole moments induced at N molecules in the volume.

To calculate the polarization P for the polarized dielectric in Figure 7.4b, we need to sum all the
dipoles in the medium and divide by the volume . However, the polarized medium can be
simply represented as in Figure 7.4c in terms of surface charge and – , which are
separated by the thickness d. We can view this arrangement as one big dipole moment
from to . Thus

Since the polarization is defined as the total dipole moment per unit volume, the magnitude of P
is

But / is the surface polarization charge density , so

The polarization P induced in a dielectric medium when it is placed in an electric field depends
on the field itself. To express the dependence of P on the field , we define a quantity called the
electric susceptibility by

The equation above shows an effect P due to a cause and the quantity relates the effect to its
cause. Put differently, acts as a proportionality constant. It may depend on the field itself, in
which case the effect is nonlinearly related to the cause. Further, electronic polarizability is
defined by

where N is the number of molecules per unit volume.

Created by Md. Raj Masud, Lecturer, Faculty of Enineering, AIUB 
Therefore,
1

Since amount of opposite bound charges are appeared near the metal plates of the capacitor,
additional free charges are required to neutralize the opposite polarity called polarization
charges .

1
Now, relative permittivity,
1

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Local field and Clausius-Mossotti Equation

We know,

;
1
3

1
3

1
3

1
3

Created by Md. Raj Masud, Lecturer, Faculty of Enineering, AIUB 
 .3
3
3 3
3 3
1

3
1
3
1

3 3
1
1
2 3
1
1
2 3
This equation is called Claussius-Mossotti equation.

Example: The electronic polarization of Ar atom is 1.7 10 . What is the dielectric

constant of solid Ar if its density is 1.8 / ?[ 39.95 / ]
Solution:
Number of Ar atom per unit volume,
6.02 10 mol 1.8
2.71 10
39.95
With 2.71 10 and 1.7 10 , we have
2.71 10 1.7 10
1 1 1.52
8.85 10
If we use the Claussius-Mossotti equation, we get
2
1
3
1.63
1
3

The simple equation underestimates the relative permittivity because local field is ignored.
 

Created by Md. Raj Masud, Lecturer, Faculty of Enineering, AIUB 
Polarization Mechanisms:
1. Electronic Polarization,
2. Ionic Polarization (dipolar), Total Polarization,   
3. Orientational Polarization,
 

Ionic Polarization:  
In ionic crystals Æ NaCl, KCl, etc.
Na+ Cl- in well defined lattice sites.
Each pair has a dipole moment.

The dipole moment in the positive x direction has the same magnitude as in the negative
direction, so the net dipole moment
0
In the presence of a field along the x direction, however, the ions are pushed in the
– direction and the ions in the direction about their equilibrium positions.
Consequently, the dipole moment in the direction increases to and the dipole moment
decreases to , as shown in the figure 7.8b. Therefore, the average dipole moment per ion
pair,
0

Created by Md. Raj Masud, Lecturer, Faculty of Enineering, AIUB 
Ionic polarizability is defined in terms of the local field experienced by the ions,

[Generally, is greater than

by a factor of 10 or more.]
The polarization exhibited by the ionic solid is therefore given by,

where, is the number of ion pairs per unit volume. By relating the local field to and using,
1
We can again get Clausias-Mossotti equation, but now due to ionic polarization,
1
2 3

Frequency dependence: Dielectric constant and Dielectric Loss

We considered dielectric constant under polarized condition due to an applied dc field. (Which
does not change w.r.t. time).
When applied field is alternating (ac sinusiodal) Æ Polarization leads to an ac dielectric constant
different than the dc (static) one.

Consider dipolar orientational polarization:

Sinusoidal field Æ changes magnitude & direction continuously Æ tries to line up the dipoles
one way or the other.
If at instant, induced dipole moment per molecule can follow the field variations,

; ; Max for dc condition.

3
Since, the molecules rotate in a viscous medium, it may not respond instantly to the changes in
the applied field.
If the field changes too rapidly Æ dipoles cannot follow the field Æ i.e. the medium remain
randomly oriented as if no applied field is applied.
0
0
At low frequency, dipoles can follow the field. Therefore, has its maximum value when dc
field is applied.
Created by Md. Raj Masud, Lecturer, Faculty of Enineering, AIUB 
Complex Dielectric Constant:

Suppose that after a prolonged application, corresponding to dc conditions, the applied field
across the dipolar gaseous medium is suddenly decreased from to at a time we define as
zero. So, the induced dipole moment is decreased from 0 to 0 . This decrease or
relaxation process in the induced dipole moment is achieved by random collisions.
Assuming,
the average time, called relaxation time, between molecular collisions, then this is the mean
time it takes per molecule to randomize the induced dipole moment.
instantaneous induced dipole moment
0 = the excess dipole moment, which must be eventually disappear to zero through
random collisions as ∞.
It would take an average seconds to eliminate the excess dipole moment 0 .
The rate of change of the induced dipole moment,
0

Created by Md. Raj Masud, Lecturer, Faculty of Enineering, AIUB 
For an ac field, we would write,
sin
As an engineer, we prefer to use exponential equation rather that sinusoidal relation,
exp
We get,
0 exp

Solving this, we find the induced dipole moment as,

exp
where represents the orientational polarizability under ac field condition and is given
by,
0
1

At low frequencies, 1, is nearly 0 , and is in phase with .

At high frequencies, 1 and 1/ , can no longer follow the variation in the field, .
Since, from the equation of it is seen that the it is complex therefore, also must be
complex.

We generally write the complex dielectric constant as,

where is the real part and is the imaginary part, both being frequency dependant as shown
in the figure 7.12. The real part decreases from its maximum value 0 , corresponding to
0 , to 1 at high frequencies when 0 as ∞. The imaginary part is zero at
low and high frequencies but peaks when 1 or 1/ .

Created by Md. Raj Masud, Lecturer, Faculty of Enineering, AIUB 
Physical Interpretation

The complex dielectric constant is given as,

The real part represents the relative permittivity that we would use in calculating the
capacitance, as for example in / , the imaginary part represents the energy
lost in the dielectric medium as the dipoles are oriented against random collisions one way and

Created by Md. Raj Masud, Lecturer, Faculty of Enineering, AIUB 
then the other way and so on by the field. Considering the capacitor in the figure 7.13, which has
this dielectric medium between the plates. Then the admittance with is,

which can be written as,

where

and

Input power

Power loss 
in dielectric 
medium 

Piezoelectricity
Certain crystals, for example quartz (crystalline SiO2) and BaTiO3 become polarized when they
are mechanically stressed. Charges appear on the surfaces of the crystal, as shown in figure 7.35a
and b. The same crystals also exhibit mechanical strain or distortion when they experience an
electric field, as shown in figure 7.35c and d. the direction of mechanical deformation depends
on the direction of the applied field, or the polarity of the applied voltage. The two effects are
complementary and defined as piezoelectricity.

Created by Md. Raj Masud, Lecturer, Faculty of Enineering, AIUB 
Î Not all crystals can exhibit piezoelectricity. The crystals that has center of symmetry
cannot exhibit piezoelectricity.

Created by Md. Raj Masud, Lecturer, Faculty of Enineering, AIUB 
Î Only crystals with special crystal structure that has no center of symmetry can exhibit
piezoelectricity. The unit cell that has no center of symmetry is said to be
noncentrosymmetry.

Created by Md. Raj Masud, Lecturer, Faculty of Enineering, AIUB