Numerical evaluation of the dielectric polarization distribution from thermal-pulse data

Abstract

A method for numerically carrying out the Fourier analysis for the thermal‐pulse experiment is given. It is shown that it is possible to obtain the polarization distribution across the thickness of a thin film (25 μm) to within the limits set by the experimental data. For such films, resolution of the distribution to within 0.1 of the film thickness is possible. Results are given for the experiment by using a charge measurement rather than a voltage measurement. The effect of a finite‐width pulse is shown to cut off the Fourier coefficients in such a way as to smooth any distribution. Pulsing the sample alternately on both sides is shown to greatly increase the resolution of the experiment. Results for a PVF2 film and a P(VF2‐TFE) copolymer film show that interesting details can be found by the experiment.