The electronic structure of alkali metals: experiment and theory

Abstract

The high-momentum components of the electron and positron Bloch waves in the three alkali metals Li, Na, and K have been studied by comparing calculations employing the linear muffin tin orbital method and the independent particle model with accurate measurements of the two-dimensional angular correlation of annihilation radiation. It is found that such an analysis provides a sensitive test of electronic structure, and that electron-positron correlation effects do not distort the high-momentum components in this example in any significant way. It is shown that thermal effects due to Debye-Waller damping are important.