Hi everyone, I hope you doing great. I already installed QE, and while I was doing some calculations I noticed the notion of K_points. After doing some research, this is what I got:

In 1D, the energy bands are plotted in the Brillouin zone, where the quantum number (wave vector) is ranging from -pi/a to pi/a on the x-axis.

In 2D, the energy bands are plotted in the Brillouin zone, where the quantum number this time has two components Kx and Ky, which means we have a 3D representation for the energy bands.

In 3D, the energy bands are plotted in the Brillouin zone, where the quantum number this time has three components Kx, Ky and Kz, consequently, it's complicated to represent the energy bands. Therefore, a new representation for the energy bands is needed. We define a path as a set of selected K_points K = (Kx, Ky, Kz) and we draw the energy in the function of this path. To minimise the choices of these paths, we define these later using the symmetry point (special K_points), which are Gama, x, ..etc. and by using the same path one can find the same energy bands as the others.

This is what I have understood, and I hope it's right.

Don't hesitate to correct me if I did a mistake or missed something, please.

Waiting for your comments.

Ahmed

More Ahmed Benyahia's questions See All
Similar questions and discussions