Quantitative estimates of characteristic values involved in quasiparticle conduction in dielectric liquids

A brief theoretical treatment is made of the role played by the Debye length in the description of the scale of diffusion of electrons to form a gradient of electron density in a population of trapped electrons, /spl rho//sub e/. From this treatment a calculation is made of the total number of electrons, N, contained within the Debye sphere, which, for silicone oil, is 4000. The binding energy of these, from experimental data is 24 kV and thus each electron is held within the sphere in the form of a quasiparticle with an energy of 6 eV. This data is used to evaluate the Debye length, /spl lambda/=0.4 mm and the density of electrons as 10/sup 7/ cm/sup -3/. The scale of this is shown to be consistent with the emergence of the beltramion quasiparticles from the cathode double layer in the high field regime of the Ostroumov plot.