Physics Student Research

Document Type

Presentation

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Utah State University Physics Colloquium

Publisher

Utah State University

Publication Date

11-28-2017

First Page

1

Last Page

27

Abstract

A Pulsed Electro-Acoustic (PEA) system has been developed and is being used to study electron charge injection, transport, and relaxation in highly disordered insulating materials. The material is placed between two electrodes in a parallel plate configuration. The sample is injected with charge via electrode charging by applying a high voltage across the sample. The distribution of charge in the dielectric is measured with PEA by applying a ~100 MHz ~850 V electric pulse to displace the embedded charge, causing an acoustic pulse monitored via time-of-flight with a thin piezoelectric sensor allowing observation of charge accumulation and dissipation. Measurements of the time evolution of the charge profiles within 100 μm LDPE using the PEA system were compared to predicted models and to previous studies; these were used to verify that the new system is working as expected and to characterize the system’s resolution and capabilities. Higher spatial resolution nondestructive PEA measurements of embedded charge in dielectrics offer important information for applications such as spacecraft charging, plasma deposition, accelerator physics, high voltage devices and transmission lines, supercapacitors, microelectronics, and nanodielectric materials.

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