Debye relaxation is the dielectric relaxation response of an ideal, noninteracting population of dipoles to an alternating external electric field. It is usually expressed in the complex permittivity of a medium as a function of the field's frequencyω: A dipole ( Greek: dyo = two and polos = pivot) is a pair of electric charges or magnetic poles of equal magnitude but opposite polarity (opposite electronic charges), separated by some (usually small) distance. ... In physics, an electric field or E-field is an effect produced by an electric charge that exerts a force on charged objects in its vicinity. ... This article is in need of attention. ... Sine waves of various frequencies; the lower waves have higher frequencies than those above. ...
where is the permittivity at the high frequency limit, where is the static, low frequency permittivity, and τ is the characteristic relaxation time of the medium. Relaxation time is a characteristic time relating to clusters of gravitationally-interacting bodies (star clusters, galaxy clusters, globular clusters). ...
This relaxation model was named after the chemist Peter Debye. Peter Joseph William Debye (March 24, 1884 - November 2, 1966) (born Petrus Josephus Wilhelmus Debije) was a Dutch physical chemist. ...
In 1936, Debye was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (entry at nobelprize.org) "for his contributions to the study of molecular structure," primarily referring to his work on dipole moments and X-ray diffraction.
From 1934 to 1939 Debye was director of the prestigious Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Berlin.
Debyerelaxation - The dielectric relaxation response of an ideal, noninteracting population of dipoles to an alternating external electric field.