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Atomic and Condensed Matter
What can the Fermi surface tell us about a material's properties?
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[QUOTE="fluidistic, post: 6185863, member: 122352"] As far as I understand, the electrical conductivity depends on the Fermi surface (I'm talking about metals, not semiconductors and others). That surface tells us about the number of electrons that are involved in electric current when a current is applied. So one can express the electrical conductivity in terms of a surface integral over the Fermi surface only. As Ziman writes in his famous Solid State Physics textbook (page 218): Li and Cs Fermi surface aren't that spherical. Li's one has around 5% anisotropy in certain directions. It means the surface is in some directions much closer to the Brillouin Zone boundaries than in other directions. Check out [URL]https://www.phys.ufl.edu/fermisurface/[/URL] for a visual picture. Sure, but again, what does it tell us about the properties of the material? The number of free electrons seems to be irrelevant regarding to the determination of the electrical conductivity and other quantities. I thought that this would mean a higher Fermi velocity and hence a higher electrical conductivity, but I am now reading that the closer to the BZ edges, the slower the electrons (not sure why!), and thus the lower the electrical conductivity. I am completely confused. So I am still lightyears away from understanding the most basics things one can get out of these Fermi surfaces (which make up the cover of many solid state textbooks!). [/QUOTE]
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What can the Fermi surface tell us about a material's properties?
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