Polarization and Dielectric materials

Discipline Course-I

Semester-II

Paper No: Electricity and Magnetism

Lesson: Polarization and Dielectric Materials

Lesson Developer: Dr. Amit Choudhary

College/ Department: Physics Department,

Deshbandhu College, Kalkaji, University of Delhi

Institute of Lifelong Learning, University of Delhi

 Polarization and Dielectric materials

Table of Contents

Title: Polarization
13.1. Introduction
13.2. Different types of polarization
13.2.1. Electronic polarization(or atomic polarization)
13.2.2. Ionic polarization
13.2.3. Orientation polarization
13.3. Electric field outside the dielectric body
13.4. Electric field inside a dielectric
13.5. Relation between E, P, and D fields
13.5.1.1. Relative dielectric constant
13.5.1.2. Electric displacement
13.5.1.3. Electric susceptibility
13.6. Gauss’ law in dielectrics
13.7. Questions
Multiple choice questions

References

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 Polarization and Dielectric materials

Learning Objective
This lesson aims at the following student learning objectives.
 Meaning of ‘polarization’ of a dielectric and types of Polarization
 Mechanism of ‘polarization’ of non-polar dielectrics.
 Concept of the polarization vector, P.
 Concept of polarization charges
 Effects of ‘polarization’ of a dielectric on the net electric field inside a dielectric
 Know the meaning of ‘dielectric constant’
 Know the meaning of, and definition of, the term ‘electric Susceptibility’
 Know the reason for thinking in terms of another vector field, instead of the usual
electric field, in the presence of dielectrics
 Define the displacement vector
a) Understand the significance of D
b) Know the relation between the vectors E, P
c) Know the modified form of Gauss’s law in dielectrics

13.1 Introduction
As we have discussed in the chapter based on dielectric materials that in the presence of
electric field the center of positively charged nucleus and negatively charged electrons of
molecules of a dielectric materials get separated when electric field is applied resulting in
the creation of dipole moments in the direction of applied electric field.
For example, consider an atom, Fig 1(a), in the absence of external field. It shows that
the center of mass of positive and negative charges coincides at the center of the atom.
Now, when the external electric field is applied, the centers of mass charges get
separated Fig. 1(b). If the distance between two center of masses of opposite charges is
and the net magnitude of each type of charges is , then the net dipole moment is . If
the dipole moments in the dielectric material are generated only by the application of
electric field, then they are called induced dipole moments. However, some dielectric
materials possess dipole moments in the absence of external electric field also, eg. H 2O,
HCl etc., then they are called as permanent dipole moments.

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 Polarization and Dielectric materials

(a) - - (b) - -
- - - - - - -
- - -
-
+ + - -
-
- - - - -
- -
- - -

(c)
+
q -q

Fig. 1. (a) Schematic of atom in neutral state i.e. no external field is applied, (b)
external electric field is applied on the atom, and (c) the center of mass get separated
with a distance .

If the dielectric material possesses randomly oriented permanent dipoles, the application
of external electric field tends to align them along the direction of applied electric field.
The materials in such state of creation of induced dipoles or aligning the permanent
dipole are called polarized materials and the phenomenon is called electric polarization.
The polarization field in the dielectric is therefore opposite to the direction of external
applied field. However, the polarization density is in the direction of applied electric
field.
The polarized material produces its own electric field, both at exterior points and
inside the dielectric as well. The polarization of dielectric depends on the net electric field
in it. The field just outside the polarized medium can modify the free charge distribution
of electron in the conductor placed close to it which in turn can change the electric field
in the dielectric.
Mathematically, this can be derived by assuming a small volume element v of a
dielectric medium which is as a whole electrically neutral. On the application of electric
field, the dielectric medium becomes polarized. Then, the volume element is
characterized by the dipole moment as

(1)
Where is the position vector where the electric field is to be observed. is the charge
element which has the relation with volume in terms of volume charge density as
.
This quantity determines the electric field produced by the small volume at a point
outside the volume element .
As we have seen that depends on the size of volume element, therefore it would
be more easy to work with dipole moment per unit volume, Fig. 2, so that it could be
observed independent of volume of dielectric,
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 Polarization and Dielectric materials

(2)

The quantity is called as electric polarization or simply polarization as it becomes point

function when is limited to a very small volume. So, is a vector
quantity in the direction of . has the direction of displacement of separation of
positive and negative charges in atoms or molecules. The macroscopic small volume
element still has large numbers of molecules which are contributing to the p. Thus
assuming the contribution of individual molecule in polarization,

(3)

Figure 2 The schematic of electric polarization.

The net dipole moment due to is , where summation is extended to all the
molecules inside volume element . Therefore, we can write

(4)

The net polarization is the dipole moment per unit volume of the dielectric material as
given by Eq. 4.

13.2 Different types of polarization:

There are three types of electric polarization
13.2.1 Electronic polarization (or atomic polarization):
An atom consists of positively charged nucleus surrounded by negatively charged
electron cloud as shown in Fig. 1(a). The center of masses of positive and
negative charges coincide in the absence of external electric field. In this state,
there is no electric polarization. When external electric field is applied, the center
of positive and negative charges get distorted form their positions and induces a
displacement up to a certain distance in the direction of applied electric field
between the center of positive and negative charges as shown in Fig. 1(b). The
positive charge shifts in the direction of electric field whereas the negative
charges shift opposite to this. Thus, a dipole is induced as discussed in the above
section as discussed in introduction part of this chapter. The induced dipole is
proportional to the applied electric field

(5)

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 Polarization and Dielectric materials

The constant of proportionality  is called the atomic polarizability.

For animations ctrl+click on the following link:

http://www.doitpoms.ac.uk/tlplib/dielectrics/polarisation_mechanisms.php

13.2.2 Ionic polarization:

Let us discuss about ionic polarization. First consider two ions (cation and anion)
which are connected by ionic bond. The ionic bond has certain amount of energy
i.e. the minimum energy required to break the bond which is called as threshold
energy. If we apply the electric field less than the threshold field then the bond
acts as a spring. Therefore the ions associated with this bond would stretch and
contract on the application of external electric field i.e. the ions oscillate about
their equilibrium position. This stretching of ions from their equilibrium results in
the separation of center of masses of positive and negative charges and
generates the dipole moment. The polarization so produced is called as ionic
polarization.

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 Polarization and Dielectric materials

polarization.swf

Fig. 3. (a) Ions (anion and cation) are attached with ionic bond in the absence of external
electric field, (b) Ions get stretched on the application of electric field.

Examples of ionic polarization are NaCl, CaCl 2, BaO etc.

For animation ctrl+click on the following link:

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 Polarization and Dielectric materials

http://www.doitpoms.ac.uk/tlplib/dielectrics/polarisation_mechanisms.php

13.2.3 Orientational polarization:

Consider a material in which the molecules possess permanent dipole moment,
. In a piece of bulk material, all the dipoles of molecules are oriented in random
directions in the absence of an electric field. The randomly oriented dipoles give
net zero polarization (Fig. 4 (a)),
.
This is due to the fact that the effect of each dipole is cancelled by the other
dipole. But if an electric field is applied in a direction, all the dipoles rotate along
the direction of electric field. For example water (H2O), the dipole moment of H2O
is 1.85 C.m or 1.85 D (‘D’ stands for Debye. This is a unit, which is the measure
of dipole moment).

(a) (b)
H+
t

Dipole moment
men
+
H

Dipole moment
+
H
le mo

t
momen

Di
po
Dipo

0
105

le
0

O-
105

H+ O-
H+

m
H
Dipole

om
ment
0
105
-
O

en H
-

H+
O

Dipole moment

105 10 t +
50
Dipole mo

H+ 0
H+
+
H

0
0

105
105

10
O-

O H+
-
O

5
+

-
H

Dip
O
ole H -
mo
+
+

+
m
H
H

en
t
nt
me

+
H

ment
mo

O-
H+
+

H+
H

ole

H+

+
Dipole

Dipole mo

ment
Dip

10 0
Dipole moment

5
0
105
0
105

-
O
mom

Dipole mo
105 0
O-

H+
105 0
O
-

0
105
ent

O-

-
O

Dip
+
H
+
H

ole
mo
H+

me
H+

nt
H

=0 >0

Fig. 4 (a) The net polarization is zero in the absence of electric field, (b) dipoles are
oriented in the direction of applied electric field.

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 Polarization and Dielectric materials

For more animations ctrl+click on the link below:

http://www.doitpoms.ac.uk/tlplib/dielectrics/polarisation_mechanisms.php

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 Polarization and Dielectric materials

Value addition: Did you Know

The properties of material changes with dipole moment.

The variation in the dipole moment brings the change in the intrinsic
properties of material. For example water, the dipole moment of
water is about 1.85 D whereas the dipole moment of crystal water
i.e. ice is 3.1 D. The bond angle between hydrogen atoms of ice at
room temperature is 105o whereas this is 109.5o in ice form. This
happens because there are six valance electrons in oxygen and one
electron is contributed by hydrogen atom in H2O. That means total
eight electrons from two H-O bonds. In this process two lone pairs
electrons are left unpaired. In equilibrium, the lone pairs and bonds
stay away from each other. Then they are repelled by each other to
stay away in equilibrium forming a tetrahedral structure. Such an
ideal structure should give H-O-H bond angle of 109.5°.

O-

H+ 105
0
H+

Dipole moment

The application part of water dipole moment can be seen in the

current technology of microwave oven. The dipole moment of water
tries to align in the direction of alternating electric field of microwave
radiations passing through the food items. The alternating dipoles
rotate the water molecules and heats up the nearby molecules linked
to our food item as a result of this, the food items gain heat energy
and becomes hot. Therefore, this concept is used in heating the food
items containing water like contents.

Source:
http://chemwiki.ucdavis.edu/Under_Construction/chem1/St
ates_of_Matter/Hydrogen-Bonding_and_Water

http://books.google.co.in/books?id=dH1dAbuF-
HAC&pg=PA200&lpg=PA200&dq=dipole+moment+of+water+h2O+ic
e&source=bl&ots=LbsdyIYauD&sig=J-
ui6tN3gfKlATqXuC5G7SWkIgk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=DkqyUtW-
10

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 Polarization and Dielectric materials

EMP_rQftuIFI&ved=0CEgQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=dipole%20momen
t%20of%20water%20h2O%20ice&f=false

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_oven

13.3 Electric field outside the dielectric body:

We consider a polarized dielectric body. Assume a small volume element at position .
Its polarization at a point is . This gives rise to the electric field outside the
dielectric material. Now, in order to calculate the electric field outside, we need to
calculate the potential at that point negative gradient of which will give the electric
field.
Consider the small volume of dielectric with resulting dipole moment p. Now we
have to calculate the potential at a point distance from the position of volume
element at . This distance is large as compared to the dimension of volume
element . Then the expression for the potential is
(6)

Here

Fig. 5. The electric field at may be calculated by summing up the caontribution

due to the various volume elements in . The surface of is denoted by .

For the calculation of net potential due to the contribution from each volume element,
we have to integrate the above expression

(7)

Now mathematically we can write

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The operator will operate over the primed quantities. Therefore,

(8)
By using a derivative identity,

(9)
Using the above identity in Eq. 9, we can write Eq. 8 as

(10)

The final potential can be written in modified way by using above expression and Gauss’s
divergence theorem for first part on RHS in above expression,

(11)

Where is the unit vector over the surface of cross section of volume . The quantities
and in the above expression are the two quantities obtained from polarization P.
The dimension of these quantities are charge per unit area and charge per unit volume. So,
they can be defined as
(12)
(13)
Thus Eq. 12 and 13 can be called as polarization charge densities. and are the surface
and volume charge densities respectively.

13.4 Electric field inside a dielectric

Now one has to think about the clear meaning of electric field inside the dielectric. Basically,
we are interested to know the average macroscopic field inside the small volume containing
large number of molecules which are contributing to the polarization of dielectric material.
From fundamental point of view, the definition of macroscopic electric field inside the
dielectric can be given as ‘the electric field is the force per unit charge on a test charge
embedded in the dielectric, in the limit where the test charge is so small that it does not
affect the charge distribution.’ Such a dimensionally small charge can be called as point
charge when we are dealing with the macroscopic observation of electric field.

As the calculation of macroscopic electric field is difficult by assuming taking the

direct consideration of above definition, therefore an indirect approach of the calculation of
electric potential has been applied. Once the electric potential is known the electric field can
be calculated without difficulty. The electrostatic field in a dielectric must have the same
basic properties that we found applied to . is a conservative field and can be derived
from electric potential. Also we know that the curl of is zero.

Then surface integral of above equation can be written as

Applying Stoke’s theorem on the above expression for the conversion of surface integral to
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 Polarization and Dielectric materials

line integral, we get

(14)

In order to explain the integral, let us consider the needle shaped volume cavity as shown
in the Figure 3 below

Dielectric material

S1 S2
A B

D C

Fig. 6. The schematic of the needle shaped cavity in the dielectric material with path ABCD.

Applying the above equation to the path ABCD, the integral will be calculated over the path
AB and CD only as the path BC and DA are negligibly small. The integral becomes

(15)

Where and and stands for vacuum and dielectric respectively. stands for the tangential
component.

(16)

Consequently, the electric field inside the dielectric is equal to the electric field inside the
needle shaped cavity in dielectric only if the cavity is oriented along the direction of field .
But the cavity is nothing but the area outside the dielectric. Hence, the calculation of electric
field at point would provide the electric field at the point which would be valid for
inside the dielectric. Therefore, one can use the scalar potential derivation as done in above
heading

(17)

Where is the volume excluding the needle shaped cavity. is the exterior surface
and S’=S1+S2+Sc is the surface of the dielectric. S1,S2, and Sc are the surface area of cross
section 1 and 2 whereas Sc is the area of curved surface.

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13.5 Relation between three electric vectors , and

Following are the points which need to be discussed to establish the relationship
among , and :
13.5.1 Relative dielectric constant
Consider a parallel plate capacitor filled with dielectric material. The bound
charges +q and –q will be on the interface of the plates of capacitor. These
charges are opposite to the real charges on the plates and tend to decrease the
electric field in between the parallel plates of the capacitor. Thus, the net electric
field within the dielectric material would be less than the electric field within the
capacitor without the dielectric medium. Thus, the ratio of electric field between
parallel plates of capacitor when air is filled to that the electric field when
dielectric material is filled between plates and can be represented as
. (18)
The quantity is called as the relative dielectric constant or relative permittivity.
Where is the electric field in air and is the electric field in
dielectric. and are the permittivity of free space and dielectric medium
respectively. ‘ ’ is the distance between parallel plates of capacitor.
Substituting these values in above Eq.
(19)
13.5.2 Electric displacement vector
As we have seen in the above topic that the electric field between the parallel
plates of a capacitor depends up on the dielectric medium. A new electric field
vector can be considered to explain this effect. The new considered electric vector
is electric displacement, . This depends on the distribution and magnitude of the
charges which produce electric field but it is independent on the nature of the
medium.
Now consider a single point charge, and electric displacement due to it at a
distance is

(20)
This is very clear that is dielectric constant dependent and has the same
direction as in case of isotropic mediums.
13.5.3 Electric susceptibility
We have seen that the dielectric materials give response to the electric field. The
susceptibility of dielectric material indicates the extent to which the dielectric
material is polarized i.e. the degree of polarization of a dielectric material. The
polarization is the function of electric field i.e.

(21)
We know the total charge density, ,where and are the bound and
free charges within the dielectric material.  is the susceptibility of dielectric
material. Now, we know the Gauss’s law leads to
(22)
Substituting the expression of volume bound charge density from Eq. 13

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 Polarization and Dielectric materials

(23)
Thus, the displacement electric field D is
(24)
This is the relationship between three vectors displacement , electric
field and polarization .
Now, substituting the expression of P in the above expression.

(25)
Where, is the dielectric constant of the medium.
Thus, from the above relation

(26)
Thus Eq. (26) represents the relation between susceptibility and relative
dielectric constant.

13.6 Gauss’s law in dielectric medium

In dielectric materials, the electric field is maintained by polarization of charges

inside the material itself which is not applicable to vacuum where no charge is
available for the same. In order to know the electrostatic field inside the
dielectric, the Gauss’s law can be employed which shows the that the electric flux
across any arbitrary closed surface is directly proportional to the net charge
enclosed by the surface.
For the implementation of Gauss’s law, we need to consider all types of
charges responsible for the generation of net electric field. For this purpose, we
consider the polarization charge ( ) and some extra charge ( ) embedded
externally (composition of some charges, , , , etc.). The Gauss’s law for
dielectric materials can be expressed in two forms, integral and differential.
By the definition of Gauss’s law, we have
(27)
where , , and are the electric field, unit vector to the surface . is the
permittivity of free space.
The polarization charge can be expressed as

(28)
Then, substituting the expression of surface and volume charge densities from
Eqs (12) and (13), we get
(29)

If we consider the embedded charges , and bounded by surfaces , ,

and respectively which has the contribution to the net surface enclosing these
charges as shown in Fig. 4. The dielectric material has no boundary at surface
which shows that there will not be any contribution from boundary of material.
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 Polarization and Dielectric materials

Now converting the volume integral in to surface integral by the application of

Gauss’ divergence theorem, the first term will be cancelled by the second on left
hand side of Eq. (29). Then, we get
(30)
Substituting Eq. 30 in to Eq. 27, we get
(31)

S2
Sq
1
2
S1

S3
q3
S1
q1

Dielectric

Figure 4. The dielectric medium embedded with charges , and enclosed by

their respective surfaces and the system of these charges is enclosed by a
surface S.

Substituting Eq. (27) in Eq. (31),

This is the integral form of Gauss’s law for the electric displacement in dielectrics.
If this is applied to a small volume element v then it becomes as

Dividing the above relation by v and proceeding to the limit, we get

This relation is the differential form of Gauss’s law.

13.7 Questions
Multiple choice questions

Question Number Type of question

1 Yes/No

1.1. The units of displacement field and polarization are different.

Yes/No

1.2. The electric field produced by polarization inside the polarized dielectric is
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 Polarization and Dielectric materials

opposite to the applied electric field.

Yes/No.

1.3. The electric susceptibility is not a unitless quantity.

Yes/No

1.4. The external charge on the surface of polarized dielectric is free.

Yes/No

1.5. The polarization charge inside the dielectric is also called bound charge.
Yes/No

Answers 1.1 No 1.2 Yes 1.3 No 1.4 No 1.5 Yes

Question Number Type of question

2 Multiple choice

2.1. The unit of dipole moment.

A. C/m B. C-m C. C-m2 D. C/m2

2.2. The unit of polarization in a dielectric is

A. C/m2 B. C-m C. C-m2 D. C/m3

2.3. If the electric susceptibility of a dielectric is 7, its relative permittivity is

A. 8 B. 9 C. 6 D. 4

2.4. In vacuum P=0, therefore E can be written as

A. oD B. D C.  D. D/o

2.5. If the polarization of a dielectric is parallel to the surface of it, then the surface
charge density of a polarized dielectric is

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 Polarization and Dielectric materials

A. Zero B. P C. –P D. -.P

Answers 2.1 B 2.2 C 2.3 A 2.4 D 2.5 A

Subjective questions:

1. What do you understand by electric polarization? How many types of electric

polarization are there?
2. Derive the expression of electric field outside the dielectric polarization.
3. Derive the relation between the three electric vectors , and .

References

1. J. R. Reitz, F. J. Milford, and R. W. Cristy, “Foundations of

electromagnetics theory”,Narosa Publishing House, New Delhi.
2. David J. Griffiths, Introduction to Electrodynamics, 3rd edition.
3. S. L. Kakani and A. Kakani, “Material Science”, New Age
International Publishers, New Delhi.

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