Analysis by thermally stimulated currents of the frequency power-law domains of the dielectric loss

The analysis of complex peaks in the technique of thermally stimulated depo larization currents (TSDC) often makes use of a distribution of relaxation times. Here we suggest a different approach that emphasizes the manifestati on, in the TSDC measurement, of the asymptotic power-law domains of the rel axation function in the frequency measurement. Calculations for the Cole-Co le response function show that the results of a typical TSDC experiment for systems showing time-temperature superposition contain information about t he frequency response on both sides of the spectrum. The reason for this is that the equivalent frequency of TSDC measurements is only low in absolute terms, but not with respect to the system's relaxation time, which decreas es rapidly during the temperature scan of a TSDC experiment. The analysis o f the stretched exponential and Havrilak-Negami functions indicates that th e TSDC technique is able to provide an accurate determination of the fracti onary exponents of the loss peak.