In Landau gauge with periodic boundary conditions of length , adjacent guiding centres differ by . A perpendicular electric field tilts the energy by , so adjacent states formerly in one degenerate Landau level are separated by .
Choose the Landau gauge
It preserves translation invariance in the -direction, so is conserved. With , magnetic minimal coupling gives
where
This is a quantum harmonic oscillator, so the Landau levels are
independent of .
The periodic boundary condition in quantizes . Requiring the guiding centre to lie in a strip of width gives a -interval of width . The number of allowed integers is therefore approximately
the degeneracy of a Landau level, up to boundary corrections.
Take and use the Landau gauge . With zero -momentum, the Hamiltonian becomes
For a state , this is a quantum harmonic oscillator in , centred at
with cyclotron frequency
The Landau levels are therefore
Periodicity in quantizes . Requiring the corresponding oscillator centre to lie in an interval of length leaves
allowed centres for each . This is the degeneracy of a Landau level, equal to the magnetic flux through the rectangle divided by the magnetic flux quantum . Consistent magnetic periodic boundary conditions make an integer.