Dielectric Constants of Quartz

Abstract

The dielectric constants of quartz have been determined by measuring the capacitance per unit area of parallel‐plate capacitors made by depositing metallic electrodes on surfaces of thin plates of quartz cut in such a way that the major surfaces are respectively perpendicular and parallel to the optic axis. The effect of fringing of the field at the edges was eliminated by measuring the capacitance per unit area for electrodes of different sizes and extrapolating to infinite area. The dielectric constant measured with the field parallel to the optic axis is K_∥=4.60. The constant in the perpendicular direction is $K_{\perp }\text{=4.51}$ . Both results are believed to be correct to ±0.2%.