The calorimetric measurement of low temperature dielectric loss

Most dielectric loss measurements are made by using a capacitance bridge. Bridge methods however require standard capacitors. These capacitors have dielectric loss tangents of about 10−5 and loss tangents smaller than this cannot easily be measured with bridge techniques. Furthermore, the measurement is a relative rather than an absolute one, and thus its precision is dependent on how precisely the loss of the standard capacitor is known.1