Interacting dipole charges in non-linear dielectrics: a Monte Carlo simulation

Abstract

Numerical calculations of the electrostatic dipole-dipole interaction and the resulting effects on the dielectric polarization are performed. Dipoles of finite length, which are randomly distributed in space, decrease the polarization of the whole dipole system due to their interaction. Dipoles on cubic lattice sites increase the polarization due to the interaction, as predicted by the Lorentz model. When the dipoles are shifted from their regular sites, the polarization decreases with the degree of disorder. If the length of lattice dipoles is increased, the interaction decreases the polarization too. Both lattice and disordered dipole systems exhibit hysteresis loops of their polarization. The remanent polarization of lattice dipoles drops sharply and for disordered dipoles it drops smoothly with temperature. The interaction results in distribution of activation energies for the dipoles.