Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Limitations on Distinguishing Between Representations of Relaxation Data Over Narrow Frequency Ranges

Published

Author(s)

Chad R. Snyder, F I. Mopsik

Abstract

In this article, we examine the ability to distinguish between relaxation functions with data over limited range of frequency. It is demonstrated that over these limited frequency ranges under a variety of conditions, the Cole-Cole equation can be used to fit data generated by the Havriliak-Negami equation. These results show that discerning between several very different broad relaxation functions fit to data obtained over narrow time or frequency ranges is nearly impossible within experimental accuracy. Therefore, the uniqueness of the fit parameters, and hence the ability to verify model predictions, is brought into question. Furthermore, as this conclusion is drawn from comparison of exact functions that experience no dispersion overlaps or instrumental systematic errors that can mask exact fits, the true situation with experimental data is evenworse. The same conclusion can be applied to time domain data.
Citation
Journal of Applied Physics
Volume
84
Issue
No. 8

Keywords

Cole-Cole, Cole-Davidson, curve fitting, dielectric relaxation, Havriliak-Nagami, limited frequency range, relaxation functions

Citation

Snyder, C. and Mopsik, F. (1998), Limitations on Distinguishing Between Representations of Relaxation Data Over Narrow Frequency Ranges, Journal of Applied Physics, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=851384 (Accessed April 23, 2024)
Created October 1, 1998, Updated June 2, 2021