A polaron is a quasiparticle used in condensed matter physics to describe the interaction between an electron and the lattice vibrations of the material in which the electron is moving. This concept is essential in understanding the behavior of charge carriers in solid-state systems, particularly in semiconductors and some ionic crystals.
When an electron moves through a lattice, it can distort the positions of the nearby atoms. This distortion then influences the motion of the electron, and the combined system of the electron plus the surrounding lattice distortion is referred to as a polaron. Essentially, the electron “dresses” itself with a cloud of phonons, which are quanta of lattice vibrations. This interaction affects the electron’s effective mass and mobility.
The study of polarons is important for understanding electrical conduction in certain materials and has implications in areas such as high-temperature superconductivity and the design of semiconductor devices.