The effects of thermal activation on the complex conductivity of Ag2HgI4 in the microwave region

The complex conductivity of polycrystalline Ag₂HgI₄, a superionic conductor, has been measured as a function of temperature at 10, 24 and 70 GHz. Both conductivity and permittivity exhibited sharp changes at the β?α phase transition. The microwave conductivity of the β-phase was found to be insensitive to temperature changes and that of the α-phase has thermal activation energies lower than that of dc. The observed monotonic increasing conductivity, decreasing permittivity, together with thermal activation effects are indicative of hopping ionic transport.