Electric field of an isolated charged impurity in an ionic crystal

The character of the behavior of the electric field created by a charged impurity in an ionic crystal is studied on the basis of both cluster and analytical approaches. In the cluster approach about 30 000 ions surrounding the impurity are taken into account. These ions are described in a model of polarizable sites. A direct calculation shows that the asymptote of the electric field of a charged impurity at lattice points can differ strongly from the one given by the Coulomb equation written for a homogeneous polarizable medium. The behavior of the electric field at intermediate distances, where the asymptotic behavior cannot yet be used, is studied in detail. It is found that the electric field is increased significantly in comparison to the Coulomb field in the region near the defect. The size of this (strongly polarized) region increases as the dielectric constant increases. These data are in qualitative agreement with the results obtained by Vikhnin et al. and account for the results of recent experiments designed to investigate polarization in reduced virtual ferroelectrics. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 40, 662–667 (April 1998)