5 Applied Magnetic Field

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With a magnetic field (and no electric field) the electron in k=space simply follows the constant energy contours. Why is that? ("ziman" uses this idea, in fact, in drawing the contours in the first place.)

With the program running, click with the mouse to see the orbits for a variety of initial k-values. Explore the change in behavior, particularly of the real space orbits, as k_initial is changed from (0.5, 0.5)(pi/A) to (0.6, 0.6)(pi/A).

"ziman" can remove the discontinuous jumps which you see in the k-space trajectories for large initial k-values. Recall that the dispersion relation E(k) may be considered a periodic function of k. If repeated is selected from the zone scheme menu, "ziman" allows the electron to leave the first Brillouin zone, removing the apparently artificial jumps from one point to another on the zone boundary. What is the sense of circulation for these high k orbits in the repeated zone scheme? How is the sense of rotation of a charged particle (CW vs. CCW) related to the signs of its charge and mass?