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The mobile charge carriers damp down the electric fields in materials. This is called Electric field screening. Thomas-Fermi screening is one of many approximation methods for describing the screening. Thomas-Fermi screening assumes that the total potential varies very slowly, the chemical potential of the system is constant and the temperature is very low.

1 Lindhard formula 2 Analysis of the Lindhard formula 2.1 Three Dimensions 2.1.1 Long Wave-length Limit 2.1.2 Static Limit 2.2 Two Dimensions 2.2.1 Long Wave-length Limit 2.2.2 Static Limit 2.3 One Dimension 2.3.1 Experiment 3 See also 4 References

Lindhard formula for the longitudinal dielectric function is given by

Here, V is V (q) V
q eff

ind

(q) and f is the carrier distribution function which is the Fermi-Dirac

k

distribution function(see also FermiDirac statistics) for electrons in thermodynamic equilibrium. However this Lindhard formula is valid also for nonequilibrium distribution functions.

For understanding the Lindhard formula, let's consider some limiting cases in 3 dimensions and 2 dimensions. 1 dimension case is also considered in other way.

Three Dimensions
Long Wave-length Limit First, consider the long wave-length limit (
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).
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For denominator of Lindhard formula,

, and for numerator of Lindhard formula, . Inserting these to Lindhard formula and taking limit, we obtain

where we used

and

This result is same as the classical dielectric function. Static Limit Second, consider the static limit ( ). The Lindhard formula becomes

. Inserting above equalities for denominator and numerator to this, we obtain

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Assuming a thermal equilibrium Fermi-Dirac carrier distribution, we get

here, we used Therefore,

and

is 3D screening wave number(3D inverse screening length) defined as Then, the 3D statically screened Coulomb potential is given by

. And Fourier transformation of this result gives

as we call it Yukawa potential.

Statically screened potential(upper curved surface) and Coulomb potential(lower curved surface) in three dimensions
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For a degenerating gas(T=0), Fermi energy is given by

, So the density is

At T=0,

, so

Inserting this to above 3D screening wave number equation, we get

. This is 3D Thomas-Fermi screening wave number. For reference, Debye-Hckel screening describes the nondegenerate limit case.

The result is

, 3D Debye-Hckel screening wave number.

Two Dimensions
Long Wave-length Limit First, consider the long wave-length limit ( For denominator of Lindhard formula, ).

, and for numerator of Lindhard formula, . Inserting these to Lindhard formula and taking limit, we obtain

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where we used Static Limit

and

Second, consider the static limit (

). The Lindhard formula becomes

. Inserting above equalities for denominator and numerator to this, we obtain

. Assuming a thermal equilibrium Fermi-Dirac carrier distribution, we get

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here, we used Therefore,

and

is 2D screening wave number(2D inverse screening length) defined as Then, the 2D statically screened Coulomb potential is given by

. It is known that the chemical potential of the 2 dimensional Fermi gas is given by

and

So, the 2D screening wave number is

Note that this result is independent of n.

One Dimension
This time, let's consider some generalized case for lowering the dimension. The lower the dimensions is, the weaker the screening effect is. In lower dimension, some of the field lines pass through the barrier material wherein the screening has no effect. For 1 dimensional case, we can guess that the screening effects only on the field lines which are very close to the wire axis. Experiment In real experiment, we should also take the 3D bulk screening effect into account even though

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we deal with 1D case like the single filament. D. Davis applied the Thomas-Fermi screening to an electron gas confined to a filament and a coaxial cylinder. For K Pt(CN) Cl 2.6H 0, it was
2 4 0.32 2

found that the potential within the region between the filament and cylinder varies as and its effective screening length is about 10 times that of metallic platinum.

Electric field screening

Haug, Hartmut; W. Koch, Stephan (2004). Quantum Theory of the Optical and Electronic Properties of Semiconductors (4th ed.). World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.. ISBN 981-238-609-2. D. Davis Thomas-fermi screening in one dimension, Phys. Rev. B, 7(1), 129, (1973)

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