Electronlike

Electronlike is an adjective used primarily in physics to describe particles, quasiparticles, excitations, or carrier states that behave similarly to electrons. In condensed matter physics, it is often contrasted with holelike to distinguish between charge carriers that act as negatively charged electrons and those that act as positively charged holes. The term helps categorize the nature of charge transport and the curvature of electronic bands around the Fermi surface.

In practice, electronlike carriers arise from conduction-band electrons near a minimum of the energy dispersion, and they typically carry negative charge and follow conventional electron dynamics in an applied electric or magnetic field. The designation is closely tied to the topology of the Fermi surface: electronlike pockets have a curvature and dispersion characteristic of electrons, whereas holelike pockets originate from the top of a valence band and behave like positively charged holes.

Electronlike behavior is inferred from experimental measurements such as the sign of the Hall coefficient, magnetoresistance, and quantum oscillations, as well as from band structure calculations. Materials can host multiple carrier types, with some pockets electronlike and others holelike, influencing overall transport properties and phenomena like ambipolar conduction.

Examples of systems exhibiting electronlike carriers include conventional n-type semiconductors, metals with electron-dominated conduction, graphene and other Dirac materials where low-energy excitations resemble electrons, and various correlated-electron compounds where distinct Fermi-surface features correspond to electronlike pockets. The term is part of the broader language describing charge transport in solids.

See also: electron, hole, carrier type, effective mass, Fermi surface, Hall effect.