Fall 2005 PHYS 624

Solution to Problem 1 and Problem 3 of

Homework Set 5.
Problem 1. Consider a free Fermi gas with N electrons. Find the energy of the ground
state (ground state means at zero temperature T = 0) of the gas as N varies from 1 through
15 (HINT: Note that for small number of particles one cannot convert sums over k states into
integrals, but must instead use explicit enumeration of states in the box with periodic boundary
conditions, whose wave vector is k = 2π L
(nx , ny , nz ) and eigenenergy is ²k = ~k2 /2m).

Problem 3. Consider a thin layer of silver (density of particles n = 5.86·10 22 electrons/cm3 ),

10 Å wide and 106 Å long along the x and y axis, respectively.
6

(a) Take the layer to be 4.1 Å thick along the z-axis. Treat the layer as a free Fermi gas,
demanding that the wave function vanish at the boundaries along the z-axis. Find the difference
between the energies of the lowest and highest occupied single-particle states, and compare the
difference to the bulk Fermi energy.
(b) Repeat the problem (a) with a layer 8.2 Å thick along the z-axis.

SOLUTIONS: (a) The understand the difference between the filling of single particle
energy levels for free (Sommerfeld) electrons in bulk metals and in thin layers made of such
metals, we first look at energy levels of single non-interacting electron in a box L × L × L
with periodic boundary conditions introduced for convenience (the box then fills the space in
all three directions while this Born-von Karman procedure eliminates the need to deal with
continuous energy spectrum, which can be always recovered by sending L → ∞), as relevant
for Problem 1. In this case, the single particle states are labeled by the k vector
2π
k= (nx , ny , nz ), (1)
L
so that single particle energy levels
¶2
~2 k 2 ~2
µ
2π
εbox n2x + n2y + n2z ,
¡ ¢
k = = (2)
2m 2m L
are labeled by the corresponding quantum numbers nx , ny , nz = . . . , −3, −2, −1, 0, 1, 2, 3 . . .
which can take any integer value. The lowest energy level εbox (nx , ny , nz ) = 0 is specified by
(nx , ny , nz ) = (0, 0, 0) and can accept two electrons (one spin-↑ and one spin-↓). The next energy
level is six-fold degenerate—there are six states (1, 0, 0), (−1, 0, 0), (0, 1, 0), (0, −1, 0), (0, 0, 1),
(0, 0, −1) which can accommodate twelve electrons all having the same energy εbox (nx , ny , nz ) =
~2 2π 2
¡ ¢
2m L
. In this case, one increases the quantum numbers nx , ny , nz at the same time in steps
of one until all available electrons n ∗ L3 are distributed in the lowest energy levels to form
the many-body ground state at T = 0. The highest occupied single particle state at T = 0 is
the Fermi energy εF . For example, if we have 15 electrons to distribute ¡ ¢ as box in Problem 1., the
box ~2 2π 2
highest occupied single particle state would be ε (1, 1, 0) = 2 2m L = εF and the ground
~2 2π 2 ~2 2π 2
¡ ¢ ¡ ¢
state energy is εbox ground = 2ε
box
(0, 0, 0) + 12 2m L
+ 2 2m L
= 56(~2 π 2 )/(2mL2 ).

1
 In the case of a thin metal film Lx = Ly = Lr À Lz , electron motion is confined in the
z-direction, which can be simply modeled by requiring that its wave function vanishes at the
boundaries along the z-axis (due to approximation of real confining potential by an infinite one
at the boundaries so that electron cannot tunnel outside of the layer along the z-axis). At the
same time we assume that electrons are free in the xy-plane so that final model to which we
apply the Schrödinger equation is that of a thin layer periodically repeated only in the x and
y directions. Therefore, the energy spectrum of a single electron in such layer is
"µ ¶ µ ¶2 #
2
~2 2π π
ε(nx , ny , nz ) = (n2x + n2y ) + n2z , (3)
2m Lr Lz

where nx , ny = . . . , −3, −2, −1, 0, 1, 2, 3 . . ., while nz = 1, 2, . . .. The major difference between

Eq. (3) and Eq. (2) is that filling of nz costs much more energy (because of Lz ¿ Lr ) then
filling of nx , ny states. That is, the lowest energy state is (0, 0, 1), the next one is specified by
(1, 0, 1), (−1, 0, 1), (0, 1, 1), (0, −1, 1), and so on. Eventually, for large n x , ny we will reach a
state (nx , ny , 1) whose energy is the same as the state (0, 0, 2). This point, at which states with
nz = 2 will start to fill, is, therefore, specified by the condition

ε(nx , ny , 1) = ε(0, 0, 2) (4)

2
¶2 µ ¶22
µ ¶2
~2
µ
~ 2π 2 2 ~ π 2 π
(nx + ny ) + 1 = 32 (5)
2m Lr 2m Lz 2m Lz
3L2r
(n2x + n2y ) = . (6)
4L2z
The number of electrons which have been distributed into the single-particle energy levels from
(0, 0, 1) to (nx , ny , 1) is obtained by dividing the number of states in the circle π(kx2 + ky2 ) with
³ ´2
the surface corresponding to single such state L2πr and multiplying this ration by 2 for spin
¶2
2π(kx2 + ky2 )
µ
2π
N= = 2π (n2x + n2y )(4π 2 /L2r )−1 = 2π(n2x + n2y ). (7)
4π 2 /L2r Lr

The actual number of available electrons in the silver film is nL2r Lz . If this number is equal or
smaller than N in Eq. (7), then all electrons stay in the energy levels with n z = 1, as determined
by the condition obtained from Eq. (6) and Eq. (7)

nL2r Lz 3L2r
n2x + n2z = ≤ (8)
2π 4L2z
2nL3z
≤ 1 (9)
3π
Using n = 5.86 · 1022 cm−3 and Lz = 4.1 Å in Eq. (9) we find 0.86 ≤ 1, thereby confirming that
only nz = 1 is filled. The energy of the highest occupied single particle level in the film of this
thickness is
µ ¶2 µ ¶2
~2 2π 2 2 ~2 π
ε(nx , ny , 1) = (nx + ny ) + 12 (10)
2m Lr 2m Lz
µ ¶2 µ ¶2
~2 2π nL2r Lz ~2 π
ε(nx , ny , 1) = + (11)
2m Lr 2π 2m Lz

2
Thus the Fermi energy, measured from the lowest energy level (0, 0, 1), (or “bottom of the
band” in general solid state terminology—note that we can always shift the reference energy
level by a constant) is
¶2
~2 ~2
µ
π
εF = ε(nx , ny , 1) − = 2πLz n = 5.7 eV. (12)
2m Lz 2m

In contrast to this result, the Fermi energy of the bulk metal would be

~2
εbox
F = (3π 2 n)2/3 = 5.48 eV. (13)
2m
Part (b) requires to repeat similar steps where one finds that nz = 3 level fills (by guessing
that nz = 4 fills and finding that it would fill with negative number of electrons). If number
of electrons with nz = 1 is N1 [see Eq. (7], with nz = 2 is N2 , and with nz = 3 is N3 then the
total number of electrons is
nL2r Lz = N1 + N2 + N3 (14)
while the highest occupied state satisfies
"µ ¶ µ ¶2 # "µ ¶ µ ¶2 # "µ ¶ µ ¶2 #
2 2 2
~2 2π N1 π ~ 2
2π N 2 π ~ 2
2π N 3 π
+ 12 = + 22 = + 32
2m Lr 2π Lz 2m Lr 2π Lz 2m Lr 2π Lz
(15)
From these equations one can find N1 , N2 , and N3 and thereby εF = 5.88 eV (determined by
either of these three numbers).