DIPOLE MONOLAYER BEHAVIOR IN THE PRESENCE OF ELECTRODES

The basic effects of metallic electrodes on planar monolayers of elect ric dipoles are investigated. The electric dipoles are arranged along a grid (which is rhombic in the general case) and can rotate around th e grid nodes in the monolayer plane. The electrode charge densities ar e properly approximated in order to define an approximate analytical e xpression for the electric field generated by each electrode. Interact ions among dipoles, among dipoles and electrodes, and among electrodes are simplified. A set of equilibrium hysteresis cycles for the dipole monolayer that are due to a properly charged electrode are presented and discussed for different shapes of the rhombic grid. Then, the poss ibility of employing electrodes to measure a voltage representative of the polarization of the dipole lattice is explored. Two sets of equil ibrium hysteresis cycles related to the polarization of the dipoles in the grid and to the output voltage are presented and discussed. The c orrespondence between the output electrode voltage and the polarizatio n of the dipole monolayer points out the role of the electrodes both i n controlling and in detecting transitions among stable equilibrium co nfigurations of a dipole lattice.