Polaron

A polaron is a charge carrier dressed by the distortion it induces in a material’s surrounding lattice or medium. The coupled carrier and distortion behave as a quasiparticle.

Electron–phonon interaction: The coupling between electrons and quantized vibrations of a crystal lattice. It binds a charge carrier’s motion to the lattice distortion that defines a polaron.
Quasiparticle: An emergent excitation in a many-body system that behaves like a particle with modified properties. A polaron is one specific quasiparticle, dressed by its interaction with the medium.
Small-polaron hopping: Thermally activated transport in which localized polarons move between neighboring sites. It describes how strongly localized polarons conduct when coherent motion is suppressed.
Bloch electron: An electron state extended through a periodic crystal and described by Bloch’s theorem. Unlike a polaron, the ideal Bloch electron is not defined by a carrier-induced lattice distortion.
Phonon: A quantized mode of vibration in a periodic material. Phonons describe the lattice motion that a carrier excites and carries with it.
Crystal lattice: The periodic arrangement of atoms or ions in a crystalline solid. Its sites and vibrations provide the environment distorted by a polaron.
Oxide ion conductors: Materials that conduct electricity through the movement of oxide ions. Polaronic electronic transport can coexist with ionic conduction in functional oxides.
Bare electron: An electron considered without an accompanying polarization cloud or other interaction-induced dressing. Comparing it with a polaron isolates the effects of coupling to the surrounding medium.
Fröhlich polaron: A large polaron formed through long-range coupling between a charge carrier and longitudinal optical phonons. It is the canonical model of a carrier coupled to polar lattice vibrations.
Electron: A negatively charged elementary particle that carries current in many materials. In solids, an electron can form a polaron by coupling to its surroundings.

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