Application of the Semicontinuum Model to the Effect of Dipole Reorientation on Trapped Electron Spectra in Glassy Ethanol

A semicontinuum model is applied to trapped electrons in glassy ethanol at 77°K. The configurational stability of the ground state has been established. Ground, excited, and continuum states are calculated self-consistently for specific orientations from 80° to 0° of the molecular dipoles with respect to the trapped electron. It is shown that the spectral shifts observed for trapped electrons in pulse radiolysis experiments on alcohol glasses and the shifts observed upon warming from 4 to 77°K after γ irradiation at 4°K can be semiquantitatively accounted for by the molecular dipole orientation mechanism. The cavity radius of the trapped electron also increases somewhat upon dipole orientation but this is a small effect. The effect of dipole orientation upon other physical properties of the trapped electrons in ethanol is also discussed.