1. (magnetic susceptibility) (symbol: χm) A dimensionless quantity given by
where μr is the relative permeability of a material. Magnetic susceptibility describes the response of a material to a magnetic field, being the ratio of magnetization to magnetic field strength:
χm is a tensor when M is not parallel to H, otherwise it is a simple number. For crystalline material χm may depend on the direction of the field with respect to the crystal axes because of anisotropic effects. It has a wide range of values: diamagnetic materials have a negative value; paramagnetic materials (see paramagnetism) have a small positive value; ferromagnetic materials can have a very large variable value (up to about one), which is dependent on the magnetic field strength (see magnetic hysteresis).
2. (electric susceptibility) (symbol: χe) A dimensionless quantity given by
where εr is the relative permittivity. Electric susceptibility measures the ease of polarization of a dielectric and is given by the ratio
where P is the dielectric polarization, E the electric field strength, and ε0 the permittivity of free space.