We have developed a dielectric spectroscopy technique for low-frequencies and low-electric field amplitudes. The excellent sensitivity of this method enables us to apply field amplitudes that are below the linear threshold. The dielectric constants of inorganic and organic liquids are found to be consistent with the previously reported experimental data and theoretical predictions.

We investigate the shielding of superconducting and μ-metal forms in axial and transverse directed background magnetic noise fields. Analytical expressions are obtained for the improvement in signal-to-noise ratio obtained by placing a superconducting disk in the presence of a dipole source and a uniform noise field. Axial and transverse shielding factors are then compared for identical superconducting and μ-metal cylinders. The signal-to-noise ratio is found to be infinite at certain points inside a superconducting cylinder as well as a superconducting cylinder with a central partition. Shielding factors obtained here are relevant to SQUID measurements of small dipole source fields in the presence of large background noise fields such as those encountered in biomagnetism and nondestructive evaluation.

Reactions between metals and chloride solutions have been shown to exhibit magnetic field fluctuations over a wide range of size and time scales. Power law behavior observed in these reactions is consistent with models said to exhibit self-organized criticality. Voltage fluctuations observed during the dissolution of magnesium and aluminum in copper chloride solution are qualitatively similar to the recorded magnetic signals. In this paper, distributions of voltage and magnetic peak sizes, noise spectra, and return times are compared for both reactions studied.

We derive an analytical model of the potential differences induced across plasma and internal organelle membranes in suspended cells exposed to oscillatory electric fields. Multiple shells are modeled using iterative applications of the single-shell calculation with mobile charges. This work is motivated, in part, by recent results suggesting the ability to use alternating current (ac) fields to noninvasively monitor enzyme activity within internal membranes, particularly the mitochondrial electron transport chain. Previous work, on induced transmembrane voltages in cells subjected to ac fields, has mainly been limited to oscillatory potentials across the plasma membrane. Here we first develop a three-membrane model, consisting of a plasma membrane surrounding inner and outer membranes representing an internal organelle, such as a mitochondrion. Frequency-dependent transmembrane potentials are modeled for spherical, weakly conducting membrane shells enclosing a conductive cytoplasm surrounding an idealized internal organelle. We then use a two-shell model to simulate induced ac membrane potentials of a suspended isolated mitochondrion in which the outer membrane is usually much more permeable than the inner membrane.