NOTES (17 FEB.

2012, BY SHAO YING HUANG) 1

Loss Tangent
Shao Ying Huang
Abstract
tan =

Loss tangent is frequency dependant. For microwave engineering, lossy materials are given with dielectric constants (r) and
loss tangent (tan). As

= r0, the complex permittivity of the material can be reconstructed as

= r0(1 j tan )
For lossless material, there is no loss and tan = 0, the permittivity is real and is simply
= r0
Reference: [1] [2]
For a dielectric material, an applied electric eld E causes the polarization of atoms/molecules of the materials to create
electric dipole moments that augment the total displacement ux, D. This additional polarization vector is called P
e
, the
electric polarization, where
D =
0
E + P
e
. (1)
In a linear medium, the electric polarization is linearly related to the applied electric eld as
P
e
=
0

e
E, (2)
where
e
is the electric susceptibility which may be complex. Then,
D =
0
E + P
e
=
0
(1 +
e
)E = E, (3)
where is the complex permittivity of the medium. It is expressed as
=
0
(1 +
e
) =

(4)
The imaginary part of ,

, accounts for the loss in the medium (heat) due to damping of the vibrating dipole moments
(it is called dielectric damping). It must be negative (

is positive) due to energy conservation. Lossless dielectric materials,

such as free-space, has zero imaginary part for . The dielectric damping loss and conductor loss are loss of different forms
in materials.
In a material with conductivity , a conduction current density is linked to the applied electric eld in the following way,
J
c
= E (5)
For a material with conductor loss and dielectric damping loss,
H = jD + J
c
= jE + E
= j

E + (

+ )E
= j(

)E
= j[

j(

)]E (6)
The imaginary part of the last equality in (6) counts for the loss of the material. It includes the dielectric damping loss (

)
and the conductivity loss (/). (6) can be expressed as
H = j[

j(

)]E
= j[

j(

+ ]E (7)
where (

+ ) can be considered as the total effective conductivity of a material. From (7), we have
=

j(

)
=

[1 j(

)]
=

[1 j tan ] (8)
NOTES (17 FEB. 2012, BY SHAO YING HUANG) 2
tan is called loss tangent. As shown in (8), loss tangent includes dielectric damping loss and conductivity loss of a material.
The two type of loss are distinguishable to each other. Most importantly, it is frequency dependant.
For microwave engineering, lossy materials are given with dielectric constants (
r
) and loss tangent. As

=
r

0
, the
complex permittivity of the material can be reconstructed as
=
r

0
(1 j tan ) (9)
For lossless material, there is no loss and tan = 0, the permittivity is real and is simply
=
r

0
(10)
In some reference [2], the damping of the vibrating dipole moments is considered separately in the following way,
H = jD + J
c
+ J
f
= j(

)E + J
f
(11)
In the discussion in the reference in [2], the complex permittivity
=

(1 j

) (12)
does not include the dielectric damping loss.
REFERENCES
[1] D. M. Pozar, Microwave Engineering, 3rd ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1998.
[2] J. A. Kong, Electromagnetic Wave Theory. EMW Publishing, 2008, p. 268.