Penetration of electrostatic fields and potentials through meshes, grids, or gauzes

A theoretical, computational, and experimental study has been carried out of the penetration of electrostatic fields and potentials through meshes. When a conducting partially transparent mesh is used to separate two regions of uniform static field of different strengths the potential distribution in the holes of the mesh is altered, causing the effective average potential of the mesh to become different from the potential applied to the mesh itself, which in turn gives rise to long-range changes to the fields and potentials on both sides of the mesh. The magnitudes of the effective changes in potential are investigated computationally for meshes that consist of either round wires or flat strips, in each case in either a parallel or crossed configuration. Semiempirical formulas are presented for the change in potential as a function of the fields on the two sides of the mesh and the size and spacing of the wires or strips. An experimental test using the shift in apparent energy of an electron-atom scattering resonance has been carried out. (C) 1998 American Institute of Physics.