Dielectric Relaxation and the Internal Field

The paper discusses the relation of the relaxation time τ of a dielectric to the measured decay time of polarization T and proposes a new expression for the internal field in a dielectric subjected to an alternating field. It is found for this expression that $\text{1<T/τ<}\frac{3}{2}$ and that in most instances no serious error is incurred in using T instead of τ. Application to the case of several distinct relaxation times shows that the new expression gives relations between the complex dielectric constant and frequency which are observed experimentally.