energy band

noun

1. physics a range of energies associated with the quantum states of electrons in a crystalline solid. In a semiconductor or an insulator there is a valence band containing many states, most of which are occupied. Above this is a forbidden band with only a few isolated states caused by impurities. Above this is a conduction band containing many states most of which are empty. In a metal there is a continuous valence-conduction band See also energy gap

Example Sentences

Both graphene and BLG are semimetals, as they lack the characteristic energy band gap found in semiconductors and, most notably, insulators.

From Science Daily

These are positions where two energy bands take on the same value, meaning that at these points electrons can easily jump from one energy band to another.

From Scientific American

Visualizing a material's energy band structure can immediately reveal something about that material's properties.

From Scientific American

The experiment, though powerful enough to dominate its energy band in years to come, suffers from relatively low angular resolution and sky coverage, and it lacks the ability of instantaneous detection.

From Scientific American

For an electron in a solid, the potential-energy landscape changes this parabola into an energy band that resembles the parabola at small momenta but flattens out when the electronic wavefunction reaches a momentum comparable to the inverse of the interatomic distance in the lattice.

From Nature