High‐field current transients in KCl

摘要

Current transients which are anomalously large compared with steady state current are reported for KCl for the temperature range 100–340 °C at field strengths between 0.3 and 0.8 MV cm-1. The form of the transients is discussed, and a model which quantitatively fits the experimental data is developed. It is proposed that the observed currents contain a time‐independent part which is probably ionic, and a transient part which is probably electronic. The electronic current appears to be due to hopping of electrons between shallow localized levels. The time dependence of the current is explained by excitation of electrons into these conducting levels from shallow localized nonconducting levels, followed by bimolecular recombination at deeper levels.