We show that there is a general method for quenching the macroscopic dipole
that is found when a stack of planes is set up along a polar direction. We
therefore show how simulations of these polar interfaces can be performed.
We also show that there is a category of polar interface that cannot be st
abilised in any simple way that both quenches the dipole and is chemically
reasonable. We illustrate the method by calculating the energies of a numbe
r of boundaries in spinel. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserv
ed.