- #1
rwooduk
- 762
- 59
The Thomas-Fermi wavevector relates to the damping of an electric field caused by build up of carriers around an impurity (screening). But I can't understand it's physical meaning.
Wiki states "Thomas–Fermi screening is the limit of the Lindhard formula when the wavevector (the reciprocal of the length-scale of interest) is much smaller than the fermi wavevector, i.e. the long-distance limit."
So it applies when the wave vector is much smaller than the fermi wavevector, but I'm trying to visualise a physical meaning of what the Thomas-Fermi wavevector actually is.
Any ideas would really be appreciated.
Wiki states "Thomas–Fermi screening is the limit of the Lindhard formula when the wavevector (the reciprocal of the length-scale of interest) is much smaller than the fermi wavevector, i.e. the long-distance limit."
So it applies when the wave vector is much smaller than the fermi wavevector, but I'm trying to visualise a physical meaning of what the Thomas-Fermi wavevector actually is.
Any ideas would really be appreciated.