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Bloch Oscillations — An Electron That Turns Around

Interactive Bloch-oscillation simulator: watch an electron in a periodic crystal lattice under a constant electric field oscillate back and forth in real space instead of accelerating forever, as its crystal momentum sweeps across the Brillouin zone and Bragg-reflects at the zone boundary.

Physics & Mechanics3DAdvanced60 FPS⚡ Plasma

This simulator follows a single electron on a one-dimensional tight-binding band inside a perfect crystal lattice under a constant electric field. Instead of accelerating forever the way a free electron would, its crystal momentum k sweeps across the Brillouin zone and Bragg-reflects at the boundary, so its real-space position oscillates back and forth — a Bloch oscillation. Adjust the field strength and the band's hopping amplitude to see the oscillation period and swing change in real time, and toggle a free-electron ghost to see how differently the same constant force behaves with and without a periodic lattice.

⚙ Under the hood

Watch an electron on a tight-binding band inside a periodic crystal lattice under a constant DC electric field: instead of accelerating forever, its crystal momentum sweeps the Brillouin zone and Bragg-reflects at the boundary, so real-space position oscillates back and forth with period T_B=2*pi*hbar/(eEa). Toggle a free-electron ghost under the identical field to see the contrast with unbounded acceleration.

Three.jsSolid State PhysicsCondensed MatterBand TheorySemiclassical Dynamics

3D · Three.js / WebGL renderer · 60 FPS target · runs fully client-side, no install