ALTERATION OF CRYSTAL WAVE FUNCTIONS BY LATTICE DEFECTS.

Most types of lattice defects are shown to be capable of altering the wave functions of the intrinsic electronic states of solids. This alteration is caused by the strong electric fields arising at charged defects of all types. The effect is similar to that by which a uniform field changes Bloch functions to Houston functions. A number of consequences follow from the changes caused by the modified wave functions in the matrix elements for electronic transitions. Charges in the fundamental optical absorption edge and in the exciton spectrum are shown to be among these consequences. The application of these results to scattering of current carriers in heavily doped semiconductors is suggested. Author