A Thermionic Theory of the Electrical Conductivity Dielectrics

Abstract

Assuming that the electrons by which the electrical conduction in dielectrics is carried out, are of thermionic origin, the number of these electrons in unit volume is given by Richardson's formula in the case of thermionic emission. Considering the recombination of electrons with the parent ionized atoms, we deduced the number of electrons which actually convey the electronic conduction, and thus obtained the expression for the electrical conductivity as a function of temperature and of material constants.
Comparing this expression with my former experimental results for quartz, a good coincidence between the theoretical and the experimental results were obtained, and thus, for quartz, the theoretical curves expressing the variation of the electrical conductivity due to temperature agrees satisfactorily with the experimental curves, up to a certain high temperature; and also reasonable values for the acting radius of the atoms in quartz and for the equivalent potentials for the emisson of an electron from the atom in quartz were deduced. Puttingφ=hv, we also deduced the natural frequencies and its wave lengths for quartz plates, one cut parallel and the other perpendicu_??_ar to the optical axis; these values fall also within the range of values actually observed by Listing and by H. Rubeus and Nichols.