WU , Kai

We study the surface states of an excess electron at polyethylene/vacuum interfaces using an accurate reaction-field method, specifically designed to take into account the long range interaction of the excess electron and the dielectric surface. The method is shown to validate the energy levels recently reported with a simple perturbation...

Polyethylene is commonly used as an insulator for AC power cables. However it is known to undergo chemical and physical change which can lead to dielectric breakdown. Despite almost eighty years of experimental characterization of its electrical properties, very little is known about the details of the electrical behaviour of this material at...