The Structure of Electronic Excitation Levels in Insulating Crystals

Gregory H. Wannier
Phys. Rev. 52, 191 – Published 1 August 1937
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Abstract

In this article, a method is devised to study the energy spectrum for an excited electron configuration in an ideal crystal. The configuration studied consists of a single excited electron taken out of a full band of N electrons. The multiplicity of the state is N2. It is shown that because of the Coulomb attraction between the electron and its hole N85 states are split off from the bottom of the excited Bloch band; for these states the electron cannot escape its hole completely. The analogy of these levels to the spectrum of an atom or molecule is worked out quantitatively. The bottom of the Bloch band appears as "ionization potential" and the Bloch band itself as the continuum above this threshold energy.

  • Received 13 May 1937

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.52.191

©1937 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Gregory H. Wannier*

  • Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey

  • *I want to express my thanks to Princeton University for the grant of its Swiss-American Exchange Fellowship for the year 1936-37.

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Vol. 52, Iss. 3 — August 1937

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