Complex Permittivity
In nonattenuating media, the permittivity and refractive index are related by:
- (SI), (cgs)
where is the permeability and is the permittivity. In attenuating media, the same relation is used, but the permittivity is allowed to be a complex number, called complex permittivity:
- (SI), (cgs).
Squaring both sides and using the results of the previous section gives:
(this is in SI; in cgs, drop the and ).
This approach is also called the complex dielectric constant; the dielectric constant is synonymous with in SI, or simply in cgs.
Read more about this topic: Mathematical Descriptions Of Opacity
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