Computer-controlled susceptometer for investigating the linear and nonlinear dielectric response

A fully automatized alternating current (ac) susceptometer is constructed for simultaneous measurements of the phase resolved complex linear and complex nonlinear ac susceptibilities of lossy and dispersive dielectric materials. This relatively simple setup allows measurements over a wide range of experimental variables, such as ac amplitudes up to 40 V, frequencies from 10(-2) to 10(3) Hz, and temperatures from 100 to 600 K utilizing only current/voltage and analog/digital converters and a personal computer. In contrast with the commonly used analysis of the charge accumulated on a standard capacitor in series with the sample our method is based on the analysis of the current flowing directly through the sample. Absence of any capacitive voltage dividers in the measurement circuit eliminates uncontrolled phase shifts. This is why the instrument provides high quality, nonlinear susceptibility data and in particular appears as a very convenient tool for discrimination between continuous and discontinuous phase transitions when determining the sign of the real part of the third order dielectric susceptibility.