Contribution to the electromagnetic study of conducting polymers and chiral structures

In this work, an electromagnetic characterisation of organic absorptive materials partially made of conductive polymer is presented. Poly-pyrrole-Teflon alloys containing from 0 to 20 pc (in volume) poly-pyrrole were prepared and characterised from dc to 6 GHz. The complex permittivity shows that these materials are absorptive; the dielectric properties strongly depend on the composition and are correctly modelled by a percolation law. A dielectric relaxation was observed for the conductive alloys and this phenomenon is interpreted as the result of an electronic conduction process insured by a charged carriers hopping. A model was developed; it is in good agreement with these results. The difference between the low and high frequency behaviour is also underlined. Microwave chiral structures were manufactured. A cholesteric arrangement of uniaxial slabs was measured in transmission between 4 and 6 GHz; the experimental results are correctly modelled by cascading quadrupolar scattering matrices. New chiral materials were prepared by mixing millimetric helices made of poly-pyrrole with an insulating matrix. These materials exhibit a rotatory power and a good absorption of electromagnetic waves which is connected to the poly-pyrrole concentration. The interest in using conductive polymers to design absorptive chiral materials in the microwave domain is put in evidence and the experimental results are in good agreement with a numerical model; nevertheless, the optimisation of these materials remains difficult. (author)