The role of group polarization in the formation of fast charge pulses in polyethylene

Abstract

Recent calculations on the small charge pulses observed to move in millimetre thick polymeric insulation at high speeds have suggested that the charges may take the unusual form of electron pairs bound together by local lattice deformation. Here we show how the global lattice deformation generated around such a pulse can produce a potential well in which local electron paired states are the most stable form for the carriers and in which they are bound together such that in an electric field they must transport together as a single unit.