A general framework for the study of electrostatic point charges in multilayer planar structures

TL;DR

This paper presents a comprehensive framework for analyzing electrostatic point charges in multilayer planar structures, extending classical image theory to complex regimes with negative permittivities and non-diverging solutions.

Contribution

It introduces a generalized reflection coefficient approach and a phantom-image method, broadening the applicability and computational efficiency of electrostatic analysis in layered media.

Findings

Extended classical image theory to negative permittivities.

Derived integral representations for non-unique solutions.

Proposed a finite-source approximation for large-reflection regimes.

Abstract

We develop a general framework for the electrostatic analysis of point charges in multilayer planar structures with arbitrary layer thicknesses and material parameters. Starting from a Hankel-transform analysis, we derive alternative representations of the solution and establish a Stokes-like formulation based on ``generalized reflection coefficients,'' yielding a systematic and physically transparent treatment of multilayer media. This approach extends classical image theory to parameter regimes in which the conventional image-charge series (which has an infinite number of terms) diverges. The formulation applies to arbitrary permittivity values, including negative permittivities, where overscreening effects and plasmon-resonant conditions may occur. In these regimes, we show that the boundary-value problem no longer has a unique solution because homogeneous (source-free) modes appear; and we derive Cauchy-principal-value integral representations for the particular solution. We also introduce an asymptotic ``phantom-image'' method that replaces a divergent infinite image series by a finite set of effective sources, thus providing a computationally efficient approximation in large-reflection regimes. These results furnish both practical computational tools and additional mathematical insight into the structure of electrostatic image theory in layered media.