Influence of the dimension of a polycrystalline film and the optical anisotropy of crystallites on the effective dielectric constant of the film

Abstract

The dimension D of a polycrystalline film and the optical anisotropy m = ε_z/ε_x of uniaxial crystallites with the principal components ε_x = ε_y and ε_z of the tensor of the dielectric constant have been shown to produce a strong influence on the effective dielectric constant ε_D^* and the effective refractive index n_D^* = (ε_D^*)^1/2 of the film in the optical transparency region, as well as on the boundaries of the intervals B_Dl ≤ ε_D^* ≤ B_Du. The intervals Δ₂(m) = B_2l–B_2u and Δ₃(m) = B_3l–B_3u are separated by a gap for m in the range 1 < m < 2, whereas the theoretical dependence ε₂^*(m) is separated by a gap from the interval Δ₃(m) for m in the range 1 < m < 4. This is confirmed by a comparison of the experimental (n_oP) and theoretical (n_D^*) ordinary refractive indices for uniaxial polycrystalline films of the conjugated polymer poly(p-phenylene vinylene) (PPV) with uniaxial crystallites and appropriate values of m. In the visible transparency region of the PPV films with a change in m(λ) in the range 2 < m(λ) < 3 due to the dependence of the components ε_x,z(λ) on the light wavelength λ, the refractive indices n_oP²(λ) = ε_oP(λ) are consistent with the theoretical values of ε₂^*(λ) and lie outside the interval Δ₃(m). For m(λ) > 3 near the electronic absorption band of the crystallites, the values of ε_oP(λ) lie in the region of the overlap of the intervals Δ₂(m) and Δ₃(m). The boundaries mc of the range 1 < m < m_c are determined, for which the interval Δ₂(m) is separated by a gap from the dependences ε₃^*(m) corresponding to the effective medium theory with spherical crystallites and hierarchical models of a polycrystal, as well as from the proposed new dependence ε₃^*(m).