Brillouin zone

The concept of a Brillouin zone (BZ) was first developed by Léon Brillouin, a French physicist.
During his work on the propagation of electron waves in a crystal lattice, he introduced the concept of
Brillouin zone in 1930.
A Brillouin zone is defined as a Wigner-Seitz primitive cell in the reciprocal lattice.

How to draw a BZ???

The procedure is:
i. Select a vector G (reciprocal lattice vector) from the origin to a reciprocal lattice point.
ii. Draw a plane normal to this vector G at its midpoint. This plane forms a part of the zone
boundary which is illustrated in Fig.1. The smallest volume enclosed in this way is a primitive
unit cell, and also called the Wigner-Seitz primitive cell.

Fig. 1

The first Brillouin zone is the set of points in k-space that can be reached from the origin without
crossing any Bragg plane. The second Brillouin zone is the set of points in k-space that can be reached
from the first zone by crossing only one Bragg plane. Finally, the The nth Brillouin zone is the set of
points in k-space that can be reached from the origin by crossing (n-1) Bragg planes. More commonly,
the first Brillouin zone is often called simply the Brillouin zone and also drawn for two different
lattices like (a) square and (b) hexagonal, as in Fig. 2 (below).

Fig. 2
Brillouin zones are constructed by another procedure credited to Harrison, shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 3

In the reduced zone scheme

In the periodic zone scheme

2nd BZ 3rd BZ 4th BZ

Calculation of zone boundary
BZ in simple cubic lattice
Primitive lattice vectors in real space in two dimension
𝒂 = 𝑎𝒊 & 𝑏 = 𝑎𝒋
Primitive lattice vectors in reciprocal space
𝒃 ×𝒄 𝒃 ×𝒄
𝒂∗ = 2𝜋 = 2𝜋
𝒂. (𝒃 × 𝒄) 𝑉
Now, 𝑉 = 𝒂. (𝒃 × 𝒄) = 𝑎𝒊. (𝑎𝒋 × 𝒌), [let, 𝒄 = 𝒌]
∴ 𝑉 = 𝑎𝒊. 𝑎𝒊 = 𝑎2
𝑎𝒋 × 𝒌 𝑎𝒊 2𝜋
𝒂∗ = 2𝜋 2
= 2𝜋 2 = 𝒊
𝑎 𝑎 𝑎
Similarly,
2𝜋
𝒃∗ = 𝒋
𝑎
Using the primitive lattice vectors in reciprocal space, the reciprocal lattice vectors can be constructed,
2𝜋
𝑮 = ℎ𝒂∗ + 𝑘𝒃∗ = (ℎ𝒊 + 𝑘𝒋) (1)
𝑎
The wave vector is given by
𝒌 = 𝑘𝑥 𝒊 + 𝑘𝑦 𝒋 (2)
The Bragg diffraction condition
2 𝑮. 𝒌 + 𝐺 2 = 0
2𝜋 4𝜋 2
⇒2 (ℎ𝒊 + 𝑘𝒋). (𝑘𝑥 𝒊 + 𝑘𝑦 𝒋 ) + 2 (ℎ𝒊 + 𝑘𝒋)2 = 0
𝑎 𝑎
4𝜋 4𝜋 2
⇒ (ℎ𝑘𝑥 + 𝑘𝑘𝑦 ) = − 2 (ℎ2 + 𝑘 2 )
𝑎 𝑎
𝜋 2
∴ ℎ𝑘𝑥 + 𝑘𝑘𝑦 = − (ℎ + 𝑘 2 ) (3)
𝑎
A BZ boundary is a plane normal to 𝑮ℎ𝑘𝑙 , that passes through the point 𝑮ℎ𝑘𝑙 /2. By computing these
distances, the planes in reciprocal space that make up the first BZ boundary can be determined.
For first BZ, ℎ = 1, 𝑘 = 0 & ℎ = −1 , 𝑘 = 0;
𝜋 𝜋
𝑘𝑥 = − &
𝑎 𝑎
and ℎ = 0, 𝑘 = 1 & ℎ = 0 , 𝑘 = −1;
𝜋 𝜋
𝑘𝑦 = − &
𝑎 𝑎

For 2nd BZ, ℎ = 1, 𝑘 = 1; ℎ = 1 , 𝑘 = −1;

ℎ = −1, 𝑘 = 1 & ℎ = −1 , 𝑘 = −1
Fermi Surfaces
The Fermi surface is the surface of constant energy in k space. At T = 0, as electrons fill the
reciprocal space up to EF, they create a boundary in the reciprocal space between filled and
empty k-spaces. This boundary is called Fermi surface.
 Only metals have Fermi surfaces.
 It is important because electronic properties depend on electron states near EF within kBT.
 Volume of Fermi surface only depends on conduction electron density.
 Shape of Fermi surface depends on strength of periodic potential and size of kF is related
to kBZ.

Construction of free-electron Fermi surfaces

The free electron Fermi surface for an arbitrary electron concentration is shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1 shows the Brillouin zones (BZ) of a square lattice in two dimensions. The blue circle
shown is a surface of constant energy for free electrons i.e. the Fermi surface in the extended
zone scheme and the shaded area represents occupied electron states.
There is also another way to represent the Fermi surface in the reduced and periodic zone
scheme. Fermi surfaces for free electrons are constructed by a procedure credited to Harrison,
Fig. 2. Any point in k space that lies within at least one sphere corresponds to an occupied state
in the first zone. Points within at least two spheres correspond to occupied states in the second
zone, and similarly for points in three or more spheres.
Fermi surface in 2D, cubic (blue line):

The black square shown is the first BZ, the blue lines are the Fermi surfaces for free electrons
on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th zone. The shaded areas represent occupied electron states. Parts of
Fermi surface (blue lines) fall in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th zones. The first zone is entirely occupied.
In the reduced zone scheme

1st BZ 2nd BZ 3rd BZ 4th BZ

In the periodic zone scheme

2nd BZ 3rd BZ 4th BZ

 de Haas-van Alphen effect

The de Haas-van Alphen (dHvA) effect is a quantum mechanical effect in which the magnetic
moment of a pure metal crystal oscillates as the intensity of an applied magnetic field is
increased. This effect is an oscillatory variation of the diamagnetic susceptibility as a function of
a magnetic field strength. The method provides details of the extremal areas of a Fermi surface.
The first experimental observation of this behavior was made by WJ de Haas and his student PM
van Alphen in 1930. They have measured a magnetization M of semimetal bismuth (Bi) as a
function of the magnetic field (H) in high fields at 14.2 K and found oscillations in magnetic
susceptibility M/H. This phenomenon is observed only at low temperatures and high fields.

Fig. 1: The oscillatory variation of the diamagnetic susceptibility as a function of a magnetic

field strength for two orientations of a crystal of bismuth at 14.2 K [dHvA data].

Techniques for the measurement of dHvA oscillations

There are two major techniques to measure the dHvA oscillations: (1) Field modulation method
using a lock-in amplifier. (2) Torque method.
(1) Field modulation method
The system consists of a detecting coil, a compensation coil and a field modulation coil. The
static magnetic field H (superconducting magnet or ion core magnet) is modulated by a small ac
field (h0 cosωt, ω is an angular frequency) generated by the field modulation coil. The direction
of the ac field is parallel to that of a static magnetic field H. The voltage induced in the pick-up
coil surrounding the sample is given by
 𝜕𝑀 ℎ2 𝜕 2 𝑀
𝑉 ∝ 𝜔 {ℎ sin 𝜔𝑡 + sin 2𝜔𝑡 + ⋯ }
𝜕ℎ 2 𝜕ℎ2

where h << H . The signal obtained from the pick-up coil was phase sensitively detected at the
first harmonic or second harmonic modes with a lock-in amplifier. The dc signal is proportional
𝜕𝑀 𝜕2 𝑀
to 𝜔ℎ 𝜕ℎ for the 1st harmonic mode and 𝜔ℎ2 𝜕ℎ2 for the 2nd harmonic mode. These signals are
periodic in 1/H. The Fourier analysis leads to the dHvA frequency f (or the dHvA period, P = 1/f).

(2) Torque method

When an external magnetic field is applied to the sample, there is a torque on the sample, given
by 𝑀 ⊥ 𝐻𝑉 , where M is the component of M perpendicular to H and V is the volume. Using
this method, the absolute value of the magnetization M(H) can be exactly determined. Note that
the torque is equal to zero when the direction of the magnetic field is parallel to the symmetric
direction of the sample.

On the basis of this curious phenomenon, they thought the fact to be as the extraordinary key to
the electron structure of metals. Since the original experiment, and especially since around 1960,
careful observations have been made in many metals of this same oscillatory field dependence in
the magnetic susceptibility. The oscillations display a remarkable regularity, if the susceptibility
is plotted against the reciprocal of the magnetic field i.e. χ has a periodic dependence on l/H,
though frequently two or more periods are superposed.

Fig. 2: de Haas-van Alphen oscillations in (top) rhenium and (bottom) silver.

The full extent of its usefulness was pointed out in 1952, by Onsager that the change in 1/H
through a single period of oscillation was determined by the remarkably simple relation:
1  1  2e 1
P     
f  H  c Ae
where P is the period of the dHvA oscillations in unit of Gauss-1, f its corresponding frequency of
that oscillations (Gauss) and Ae is any extremal cross-sectional area of the Fermi surface in a
plane normal to H. Experimentally the value of Ae (cm-2) can be determined from more
convenient form
2𝜋𝑒 1 2𝜋 2 1 9.54 × 107 [Gauss −1 cm−2 ] 9.54 × 107
𝐴𝑒 = = = = [cm−2 ]
ℏ𝑐 𝑃 Φ0 𝑃 𝑃 [Gauss −1 ] 𝑃
where Φ0 = ℎ𝑐/2𝑒 ≃ ℎ/2𝑒 = 2.0678 × 10−7 [Gauss cm2 ] is the quantum fluxoid. From
measurements of P, we can easily deduce the corresponding extremal areas Ae.

P1. The extremal cross-sectional area of the Fermi surface for the belly orbit of Au is 4.8 x 1016
cm-2. Calculate the period of the dHvA oscillations in units of Gauss-1.