Local density of states
Encyclopedia
Local density of states (LDOS) is a physical quantity that describes the density of states
, but space-resolved. In materials science, this term is useful when interpreting the data from an STM
, since this method is capable of imaging electron densities of states with atomic resolution. According to crystal's structure, this quantity can be predicted by computational methods, as for example with density functional theory
.
Density of states
In solid-state and condensed matter physics, the density of states of a system describes the number of states per interval of energy at each energy level that are available to be occupied by electrons. Unlike isolated systems, like atoms or molecules in gas phase, the density distributions are not...
, but space-resolved. In materials science, this term is useful when interpreting the data from an STM
Scanning tunneling microscope
A scanning tunneling microscope is an instrument for imaging surfaces at the atomic level. Its development in 1981 earned its inventors, Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer , the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1986. For an STM, good resolution is considered to be 0.1 nm lateral resolution and...
, since this method is capable of imaging electron densities of states with atomic resolution. According to crystal's structure, this quantity can be predicted by computational methods, as for example with density functional theory
Density functional theory
Density functional theory is a quantum mechanical modelling method used in physics and chemistry to investigate the electronic structure of many-body systems, in particular atoms, molecules, and the condensed phases. With this theory, the properties of a many-electron system can be determined by...
.
External links
- ECE 453 Lecture 33: Local Density of States Online lecture by S. Datta