CLUSTER STRUCTURE IN THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE ELECTROSTATIC POTENTIAL IN A LATTICE OF RANDOMLY ORIENTED DIPOLES

We show that the distribution of the electrostatic potential in a latt ice with sites occupied by randomly oriented and orientationally uncor related dipoles is very strongly correlated: lattice sites form cluste rs of different sizes and shape, each cluster being formed by neighbor sites with equal sign of potential. The ultimate cause of cluster for mation is the long-range nature of the dipole's electrostatic potentia l. Very probably, this phenomenon is a common feature of dipole media without long-range orientational correlations: some examples show that the possible short-range orientational correlations, which do not lea d to (anti)ferroelectric macroscopic ordering, do not destroy the clus ter structure (at least, at sufficiently high temperature).