Characterization of the internal electric field distribution and chromophore orientation during electric field poling in doped polymer thin films

Monte Carlo simulations have been performed to investigate the electric field distribution in doped polymer thin films. Modeling of the systems was done using a mixture of self-avoiding flexible polymers and rigid rod dopants on a modified Flory-Buggins lattice, with a sufficient void fraction to ensure adequate mobility within the system. The local motions of both the polymer chains and dopant molecules were considered in calculating the spatial and energetic configurations and the electric field distribution. In addition, dipole moment effects were included to improve the electric field calculation. Environmental factors and processing parameters such as temperature, applied voltage, and dopant concentration were varied to investigate their effect on the electric field distribution. Characterizing the electric field distribution is useful in understanding how processing conditions and environmental influences affect polymer systems containing polar dopants in insulating applications