Physica C 469 (2009) 182187

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Physica C
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/physc

Dielectric response of Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2(Ca2yMgy)(Cu0.5Zn2.5)O10d bulk

superconductor to frequency and temperature
M. Mumtaz *, Nawazish A. Khan
Materials Science Laboratory, Department of Physics, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad 45320, Pakistan

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 14 September 2008
Received in revised form 1 January 2009
Accepted 18 January 2009
Available online 29 January 2009
PACS:
74.70.b
74.72.Jt
74.62.Bf
74.25.Qt

a b s t r a c t
The dielectric properties of Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Ca2yMgyCu0.5Zn2.5O10d (y = 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5) superconductor samples were studied at 79 and 290 K by means of capacitance (C) and conductance (G) measurements with
the test frequency (f) in the range of 10 KHz to 10 MHz. A negative capacitance (NC) phenomenon has
been observed, which is most likely arising due to higher Fermi level of ceramic superconductor samples
than metal electrodes. Also the NC may be due to the space charge located at the multiple insulator
superconductor interfaces (grain boundaries) in the materials. The negative dielectric constant (e0 ) and
loss factor (tan d) show strong dispersion at low frequencies. The lower thermal agitation at 79 K may
enhance the polarizability and hence the dielectric constants (e0 and e00 ).
2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords:
Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Ca2yMgyCu0.5Zn2.5O10d
superconductors
Dielectric constant
Polarization
Capacitance
Conductance

1. Introduction
Although the cuprate superconductors have extensively been
characterized but there is a very little work done on their dielectric
properties. In the homologous series of Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Can1Cun
O2n+4d superconductors, the most attractive candidate is Cu0.5Tl0.5
Ba2Ca2Cu3O10d (CuTl-1223) due its lower anisotropy, higher critical temperature (Tc) and higher critical current density (Jc) [1,2].
This compound has Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2O4d charge reservoir layer and
three conducting CuO2 planes. The normal pressure synthesis of
bulk (CuTl-1223) superconductor is very simple and economical
for large-scale production of this material for device fabrication.
Bulk as well as thin lms of (CuTl-1223) superconductor have been
prepared and extensively characterized [15]. The Ca atoms separate the conducting CuO2 planes and consequently the wave function of the Ca atoms develops a correlation among the carriers in
various CuO2 planes. Also the coupling between the CuO2 planes
in oxide superconductors plays very important role in enhancing
the superconducting volume fraction. The coupling strength of mo* Corresponding author. Tel.: +92 52 90642122/51 90642091 (Lab); fax: +92 51
9210256.
E-mail address: mmumtaz75@yahoo.com (M. Mumtaz).
0921-4534/$ - see front matter 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.physc.2009.01.010

bile carriers in CuO2 planes determines the length of Fermi vector

KF = (3p2N/V)1/3, the coherence length along c-axis nc = KF/2mD
and ultimately the superconductivity order parameters. In previous studies, the substitution of Mg+2 at Ca+2 site in Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Ca2Cu3O10d and Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Ca3Cu4O12d superconductors has been
found to improve the inter-plane coupling, which is most likely
accomplished due its smaller ionic size and higher electronegativity of Mg atoms [613]. Following the previous methodology, the
inter-plane coupling among ZnO2/CuO2 planes of Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Ca2
(Cu0.5Zn2.5)O10d superconductor has been enhanced by substituting Mg at the Ca sites [14,15]. The effects of enhanced inter-plane
coupling on the dielectric properties of this compound have been
studied in this article. For these studies, we have selected Cu0.5Tl0.5
Ba2Ca2yMgyCu0.5Zn2.5O10d (y = 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5) superconductor
samples.
There are four primary mechanisms of polarization in materials:
(1) electronic polarization, (2) atomic and ionic polarization, (3)
dipolar or oriental polarization, and (4) interfacial polarization
and each mechanism involves a short-range motion of charges
and contributes to the total polarization of the material.
The electronic polarization (ae) is observed at very high frequency of the order of 1015 Hz (i.e. in ultraviolet optical range)
and an atomic and ionic polarization (aa) takes place at the

M. Mumtaz, N.A. Khan / Physica C 469 (2009) 182187

frequencies in the infrared range of 10101013 Hz. The dipolar or

oriental polarization (ao), which occurs in the sub-infrared range
of frequencies (103106 Hz) mainly contributes to the dielectric
properties of the materials and the interfacial polarization (ai) is
more sensitive in the low frequency range of 103 Hz and may extend to few kilohertz range [16].
The last two sources of polarization (i.e. dipolar or oriental
polarization and interfacial polarization) play a main role in the
dielectric measurements of samples.
To the best of our knowledge, there are few reports related to
dielectric measurements on oxide high temperature superconductors [1727]. A relatively higher value of dielectric constants of
Tl2Ba2Ca2Cu3Ox [17], Tl2Ba2CaCu2Ox [17], Bi2Ba2Nd1.6Ce0.4Cu2O10+d
[18] and Bi1.84Pb0.34Sr1.9Ca2.03Cu3.06InxOy [19] superconductors
have been reported and their frequency dependent dielectric properties have been studied. In this article we report the measurements of the dielectric constants (e0 and e 0 ), dielectric loss factor
(tan d) and ac-conductivity (rac) of Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Ca2yMgyCu0.5
Zn2.5O10d (y = 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5) bulk superconductor samples by
means of capacitance (C) and conductance (G) measurements with
the test frequency (f) in the range of 10 KHz to 10 MHz and at
temperatures 79 K and 290 K.

2. Experimental
The Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Ca2yMgyCu0.5Zn2.5O10d samples are prepared
by solid-state reaction method accomplished in two stages. At the
rst stage Cu0.5Ba2Ca2yMgyCu0.5Zn2.5O10d (y = 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5) precursor material is synthesized by using Ba(NO3)2 (99%, Merck),
Ca(NO3)2 (99%, Merck), MgO (99%, BDH Chemical Ltd. Poole England), Cu2(CN)2 (99%, BDH Chemical Ltd. Poole England) and ZnO
(99.7%, BDH Chemical Ltd. Poole England) as starting compounds.
These compounds are mixed in appropriate ratios and grinded in a
quartz mortar and pestle for about an hour. After grinding, the
material is loaded in a quartz boat for ring in a furnace at
860 C. The material is red twice following one hour intermediate
grinding. The precursor material is then mixed with Tl2O3 (99%,
Merck) to give Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Ca2yMgyCu0.5Zn2.5O10d (y = 0, 0.5,

183

1.0, 1.5) as nal reactant composition. Thallium oxide mixed precursor material is pelletized under 3.8 tons/cm2 pressure. The pellets are wrapped in a thin gold foil and sintered at 860 C for
10 min, followed by quenching to room temperature. The rectangular bar shaped samples of dimensions 2 mm  2.5 mm  10 mm
are used for dc-resistivity and ac-susceptibility measurements. The
resistivity of the samples is measured by four-probe technique and
ac-susceptibility measurements by mutual inductance method
using SR530 Lock-in Amplier at a frequency of 270 Hz with HAC =
0.7 Oe of primary coil. The structure of material is determined by
using X-ray diffraction scan (D/Max IIIC Rigaku with a Cu Ka
source of wavelength 1.54056 ) and cell parameters by using a
computer program. The frequency dependent dielectric measurements are performed with HewlettPackard 4275A Multi-Frequency LCR Meter from 10 KHz to 10 MHz. The conventional
two-probe technique is used for the measurements. Silver paint
is applied to both the surfaces of the sample and the copper leads
were xed to the silver electrode surfaces. The sample is mounted
on the sample holder. The experimental set up for dielectric measurement is shown in Fig. 1. For the room temperature (290 K)
measurements the holder is kept out side the liquid nitrogen
dewer and for the measurements at liquid nitrogen temperature
(79 K) the holder is lowered in the liquid nitrogen dewer. By measuring the capacitance (C) and conductance (G) of the samples, the
dielectric constants (e0 and e00 ), dielectric loss (tan d) and ac-conductivity (rac) of the samples were determined using following
expressions [17]:

Cd
Ae0
Gd

xAe0

e0
e00

e
e0
rac xe0 e0 tan d

1
2

00

tan d

3
4

where x = 2pf and f is the frequency of applied ac-eld (Hz), d is the

thickness of the pellet (m), e0 is the permittivity of free space
(e0 = 8.85  1012 Fm1) and A is the area of the electrode (m2).

Fig. 1. The experimental set-up for the dielectric measurements.

M. Mumtaz, N.A. Khan / Physica C 469 (2009) 182187

3. Results and discussion

0.36
(cm)

The X-ray diffraction scans of Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Ca2yMgyCu0.5Zn2.5

O10d (y = 0, 1.5) superconductors are shown in Fig. 2. Most of
the diffraction lines are indexed according to the tetragonal structure following P4/mmm space group with cell parameters
a = 3.3439 and c = 14.3723 for the samples with y = 1.5 and
a = 3.879 and c = 14.581 for the samples with y = 0. The
decreased axes lengths with Mg doping manifested that the anisotropy of the nal compound is substantially decreased [6,14].
The dc-resistivity q(X-cm) versus temperature T(K) measurements of Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Ca2yMgyCu0.5Zn2.5O10d (y = 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5)
samples from room temperature (290 K) to liquid nitrogen temperature (79 K) are shown in Fig. 3 and in the inset of the Fig. 3 are
shown the ac-magnetic susceptibility vac (emu/g) versus temperature T(K) measurements of Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Ca2yMgyCu0.5Zn2.5O10d
(y = 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5) samples. The variation of the resistivity with
temperature is metallic from room temperature down to onset of
superconductivity for all the samples. In Mg free sample the zero
resistivity critical temperature Tc(R = 0) is observed around 121 K,
which is decreased to 101, 112, and 114 K for the samples with
Mg doping concentrations of y = 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5, respectively.
The in-phase component of magnetic ac-susceptibility (v0 ) is related to Meissner volume of the diamagnetism within the grains.
The v 0 originates from the superconducting shielding currents,
which ow over the surface of the sample. The imaginary part of
magnetic ac-susceptibility (v00 ) gives ac-losses in the sample.
The variation of the real part of dielectric constant (e0 ) of
Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Ca2yMgyCu0.5Zn2.5O10d (y = 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5) samples
as a function of frequency at room temperature (290 K) and liquid
nitrogen temperature (79 K) are shown in Fig. 4. When a material
is exposed to the electric eld then a portion of energy is stored

0.45
y=0
y = 0.5
y = 1.0
y = 1.5

0.27
0.18

ac(emu/gm)

184

0.09
0.00

100

6
0
-6
-12
-18
-24
-30
-36

y=0
y = 0.5
y = 1.0
y = 1.5

80

90 100 110 120 130

Temperature (K)

150
200
250
Temperature (K)

300

Fig. 3. Resistivity versus temperature measurements of Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Ca2y

MgyCu0.5Zn2.5O10d (y = 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5) superconductors; (inset ac-susceptibility
versus temperature measurements of Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Ca2yMgyCu0.5Zn2.5O10d (y = 0,
0.5, 1.0, 1.5) superconductors).

within the material, which is given by e0 . The negative value of e0

calculated from the NC is observed to increase with decreasing frequency and remained negative both at room temperatures and
79 K for all frequencies. At room temperature (290 K), the negative
value of e0 at lower frequency (10 KHz) is observed to increase from
4.2  104 to 5.3  104 with the increased doping of Mg up to
y = 1.0 and slightly decreases with y = 1.5 in Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Ca2yMgyCu0.5Zn2.5O10d superconductors. The negative value of
e0 arising from dipolarization of carriers is further increased if the
temperature is lowered to 79 K; the dielectric constant at low frequencies is around 5.1  105 for y = 0, 5.7  105 for y = 0.5,
8.02  105 for y = 1.0, and 7.1  105 for y = 1.5. The higher value
of e 0 in the Mg doped samples is most likely arising from the

0.0 a

79K

y=0
y = 0.5
y = 1.0
y = 1.5

-2.0x10

-4.0x10

-6.0x10

-8.0x10

0.00 b

290K

-1.40x10

-2.80x10

-4.20x10

-5.60x10

10

Fig. 2. The X-ray diffraction scans of Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Ca2yMgyCu0.5Zn2.5O10d (y = 0,

1.5) superconductors.

10

f (Hz)

10

10

Fig. 4. Variation of real part of dielectric constant (e0 ) with frequency of

Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Ca2yMgyCu0.5Zn2.5O10d (y = 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5) superconductors at temperatures (a) 79 K and (b) 290 K.

185

M. Mumtaz, N.A. Khan / Physica C 469 (2009) 182187

decreased distance among the ZnO2/CuO2 planes as length of c-axis

is decreased with increased Mg doping at the Ca sites. The decreased c-axis length results in increased mobile carriers density
and the same electric eld has to do more work to displace the mobile charges from their equilibrium position as a result more energy is stored in the samples and consequently more e 0 values
are observed. The e0 is the representation of energy stored within
the grains. It is worth mentioning that a maximum increase in e 0
is observed in the samples doped with Mg concentration of
y = 1.0. If we link this data with c-axis length calculated from
XRD data of these samples, it is found that it complements our
explanation of dipolar source of polarization. A maximum decrease
in the c-axis length is observed in the samples with Mg doping of
y = 1.0. The Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2O4d charge reservoir layer supplies carriers whereas the CuO2 planes contain mobile carriers, which get
displaced by the external eld. The medium could be polarized
by displacing the mobile charge carriers from their equilibrium position with external eld of frequency ranging from few kilohertz
(KHz) to megahertz (MHz). The negative dielectric constant is calculated from negative capacitance (NC) and this nontrivial NC
behavior is observed in variety of materials [17,2834]. The NC effect in the low frequency range (61 MHz) was observed in GaAs
Quantum Well Infrared Photo detectors (QWIPs) [28], GaAs homojunction photo detectors [34], glassy alloys of GaxTe100x [31],
hydrogenated amorphous Si diodes [33] etc. The NC effects in the
QWIPs have been predicted theoretically and conrmed experimentally [35]. The microscopic physical mechanism of NC has been
associated with trapping processes, charge carriers capture and
emission, space charge effect, contact injection or interface effects
[17,2832,3541]. In our view point NC is most likely due to development of positive space charge of immobile ions of the charge
reservoir layer Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2O4d of Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Ca2yMgy Cu0.5Zn2.5O10d samples in the neighborhood of the electrodes. The
displacement of the mobile charges from the equilibrium position
relative to the immobile ions of the charge reservoir layer gives a
dipolar capacitance. The positive space charge is most likely

developed at the outer surface of the device because the free carriers are swept by the metal electrodes. Also the NC may be due to
the space charge located at the multiple insulatorsuperconductor
interfaces (grain boundaries) in the materials. Our frequency
dependent dielectric measurements are consistent with the previous measurements [17]. These ceramic materials with higher
dielectric constant are very useful in microelectronic devices as
capacitors and memory devices. Their use about the memory devices would help to sustain the remnant spins due to their higher
capacitance. The imaginary part of the dielectric constant (e00 ) represents absorption and attenuation of energy across the interfaces,
when the sample is exposed to the external electric eld. The interfaces include the grain boundaries, localized defects and localized
charge densities at the defects sites. The imaginary part of the
dielectric arises due to lag in polarization with the applied ac-eld
and is observed to decrease with the increase in frequency. The value of e00 at the low frequency of 10 KHz decreases from 5.4  107 to
2.7  107 with the increase of Mg doping in Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Ca2yMgyCu0.5Zn2.5O10d superconductor at 79 K and its value is further
decreased from 2.4  107 to 1.1  107 with the increase of Mg
doping at room temperature (290 K), Fig. 5.
The dielectric loss factor (tan d) is the ratio of the energy dissipated per radian in the material to the energy stored at the peak
of the polarization and it determines the mechanism of the ac-conduction and dielectric relaxation. The value of tan d increases as the
frequency decreases and attains the maximum value at the low frequency of 10 KHz. At 10 KHz, the value of tan d decreases from
745 to 362 with the increase of Mg concentration at room temperature (290 K), which is further decreased from 222 to 71 closer to liquid nitrogen temperature (79 K), Fig. 6. A low frequency of
10 KHz, the value of tan d decreases with the increase of Mg doping,
both at 79 and 290 K.
The ac-conductivity (rac) of the Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Ca2yMgyCu0.5Zn2.5O10d (y = 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5) at temperatures of 79 and 290 K is
shown in Fig. 7. The value of rac increases with the increase of

0 a

6x10

79K

5x10

4x10

-120

-160

2x10

-200

-240

2.5x10

tan

//

290K

2.0x10

-300

-450

-600

1.0x10
5.0x10

290K

-750

b
10

-150

1.5x10

0.0

y=0
y = 0.5
y = 1.0
y = 1.5

-80

3x10

1x10

79K

-40

y=0
y = 0.5
y = 1.0
y = 1.5

10

f (Hz)

10

10

Fig. 5. Variation of imaginary part of dielectric constant (e00 ) with frequency of

Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Ca2yMgyCu0.5Zn2.5O10d (y = 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5) superconductors at temperatures (a) 79 K and (b) 290 K.

10

10

f ( Hz )

10

10

Fig. 6. Dielectric loss factor (tan d) versus frequency of Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Ca2y

MgyCu0.5Zn2.5O10d (y = 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5) superconductors at temperatures (a) 79 K
and (b) 290 K.

M. Mumtaz, N.A. Khan / Physica C 469 (2009) 182187

75
60

30

ac(1/ cm)

79K

y=0
y = 0.5
y = 1.0
y = 1.5

45

15
0
50

40
30

290K

20
10
0

10

10

f (H z)

10

10

based superconductors. If we carefully look in to these studies

carried out by R.K. Nkum et al. [19] in the In-doped
Bi1.84Pb0.35Sr1.91Ca2.03Cu3.06InxOy samples, it could be seen that
dielectric constant increases with enhanced In doping, which suppress the mobile carriers in the CuO2 planes. From here, we can infer that when the number of mobile carriers available for dipolar
polarization is suppressed then the dielectric constant is enhanced.
The decreased dielectric constant in Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Ca2yMgyCu0.5Zn2.5O10d (y = 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5) samples is most likely direct consequence of enhanced density of carriers in the CuO2 planes. These
observations are also consistent with previous studies [15] of
conductivity and magnetic measurements carried out on these
samples; where we argued that enhanced superconducting
properties were arising from enhanced carriers density in the
CuO2 planes. The increased carriers density in CuO2 planes is
accomplished by extremely higher doping efciency of (Cu0.5Tl0.5)Ba2O4d charge reservoir layer, which is brought about by ratios of
Cu/Tl atoms. The summary of e 0 , e 00 , tan d, and rac measurements
versus Mg content in Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Ca2yMgyCu0.5Zn2.5O10d superconductors is shown in Fig. 8. In Bi-2212, Bi-2223, Tl-2223 and
Tl-2212 compounds, the M2Ba2O5d (M = Bi, Tl) charge reservoir
layers contain trivalent insulating elements [1719]. These trivalent Bi+3 and Tl+3 may localize the carriers at their sites and can
suppress their ow to the conducting CuO2 planes. Contrary to

-4.9x10

79K

290K

-5.6x10

-4.2x10

-4.5x10

Fig. 7. Plot of ac-conductivity (rac) versus frequency of Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Ca2yMgyCu0.5Zn2.5O10d (y = 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5) superconductors at temperatures (a) 79 K
and (b) 290 K.

-6.3x10

-4.8x10

-7.0x10

-5.1x10

-7.7x10

-5.4x10
7

2.4x10

5.4x10

2.1x10

//

4.5x10

//

1.8x10
7

3.6x10

1.5x10
7

2.7x10

tan

1.2x10

-80

-400

-120

-500
-600

-160

-700

-200

-800

ac

Mg concentration in Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Ca2yMgyCu0.5Zn2.5O10d superconductor at temperatures of 79 and 290 K and attains saturation

at certain lower frequencies. A maximum increase is observed in
the samples doped with Mg concentration of y = 1.0 and in these
samples a maximum decrease of c-axis length is observed. At
10 KHz the value of rac increases from 29 to 48 (1/X-cm) with
the increase of Mg doping at room temperature (290 K) and its value is further increased from 63 to 83 (1/X-cm) at lower temperature of 79 K, Fig. 7. An increase in rac is observed with the decrease
of frequency and temperature but its values remain constant beyond 2 MHz. At such frequencies the time constant of the applied
signal becomes shorter than the time constant of dipolar
polarization.
The values of e0 and e00 observed in Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Ca2yMgyCu0.5
Zn2.5O10d (y = 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5) are much less than those observed
in Tl2Ba2Ca2Cu3Ox (Tl-2223) [17] and Tl2Ba2Ca1Cu2Ox (Tl-2212)
[17] superconductors. The values of the dielectric constants observed in Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Ca2yMgyCu0.5Zn2.5O10d samples are even
much smaller than those values observed in Nd-doped Bi2Ba2Nd1.6Ce0.4Cu3O10d and BiPbSrCaCuO superconductors
[18,19]. Signicant difference in the values of e 0 and e 00 is arising
from the larger difference in the thickness of charge reservoir layer
blocks. The thickness of charge reservoir layer block (Tl2Ba2O5d) of
doubled thallium layered compound is almost double than the
thickness of TlBa2O4d charge reservoir layer of single layered thallium compound. Moreover the (Cu0.5Tl0.5)Ba2O4d charge reservoir
layer in our Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Ca2yMgyCu0.5Zn2.5O10d (y = 0, 0.5, 1.0,
1.5) is more conducting, where as Tl2Ba2O5d charge reservoir layer
in Tl-2223 and Tl-2212 is insulating [17]. The former supplies more
carriers to the conducting CuO2 planes compared to the totally
insulating Tl2Ba2O5d charge reservoir layers. Naturally lower values of capacitance are observed in Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Ca2yMgyCu0.5
Zn2.5O10d (y = 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5) samples as compared to Tl-2223
and Tl-2212 samples, consequently higher conductance is observed in our samples as compared to doubled layered thallium

tan

90

80

45

75

40

70

35

65
60

ac

186

30
0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

Mg content
Fig. 8. The summary of e0 , e00 , tan d, and rac measurements versus Mg content in
Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Ca2yMgyCu0.5Zn2.5O10d superconductors.

M. Mumtaz, N.A. Khan / Physica C 469 (2009) 182187

these compounds, our Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Ca2yMgyCu0.5Zn2.5O10d (y = 0,

0.5, 1.0, 1.5) superconductor with (Cu0.5Tl0.5)Ba2O4d charge reservoir layer having partially insulating/conducting character most
likely enhances the doping efciency of carriers to CuO2/ZnO2
planes.
4. Conclusion
It is concluded that the dielectric constants (e0 and e00 ), dielectric
loss (tan d) and ac-conductivity (rac) of Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Ca2yMgyCu0.5
Zn2.5O10d (y = 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5) samples are strongly dependent on
temperature and external applied ac-eld frequency. At 10 KHz,
the real and the imaginary parts of the dielectric constants (e0
and e00 ) and ac-conductivity (rac) are found to increase in Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Ca2yMgyCu0.5Zn2.5O10d (y = 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5) samples with
the increase of Mg doping, which consequently decreases the loss
tan d both at room temperature (290 K) and 79 K. The dielectric
constants e0 and e00 are most likely arising from the dielectric polarization originating from the displacement of mobile electronic
charges present in the conducting CuO2 planes from the equilibrium position relative to Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2O4d charge reservoir layers.
The increased values of e0 and e00 in Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2Ca2yMgyCu0.5Zn2.5O10d (y = 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5) samples can be viewed in
term of enhanced carrier concentration in the conducting CuO2
planes arising from decreased c-axis length with increased Mg
doping. At higher frequencies (10 MHz) the dielectric polarization
arising from the displacement of mobile carriers in CuO2 planes
relative to Cu0.5Tl0.5Ba2O4d charge reservoir becomes negligible
and the dielectric constants approach to negligible values. At such
frequencies the characteristic time of dipolar polarization (0.67 ls)
becomes longer than the time constant of applied signal. These
studies have shown that the role of mobile carriers in conducting
CuO2/ZnO2 planes is primary in determining certain dielectric
characteristics of the material and their dielectric constants (e0
and e00 ) arising from dipolar polarization of carriers.
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