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Separate geometry from electronic response in an original one-dimensional toy tunnel junction. Write the geometric surface height as $h(x)$, tip height as $z(x)$, and positive gap as $s(x)=z(x)-h(x)$. Assume low fixed tip-sample electric potential difference: the sampled energy window is narrow enough that the tip density of states is featureless and the sample local density of states varies little across that window. Neglect thermal broadening, changes of tip shape and lateral averaging. Let $\rho (x)>0$ be the effective sample local density of states divided by a positive reference value, so it is dimensionless. Choose a spatially constant effective barrier energy $\Phi >0$, a positive coefficient $C$ with units of electric current, andHere $m_e$ is the electron mass, $\hslash$ the reduced Planck constant, and $\kappa$ the tunnelling decay constant. This is an illustrative low-bias model, not a universal calibration formula. At fixed $I=I_0>0$, taking a logarithm givesThe logarithms have dimensionless arguments. Only constant $\rho$ makes the recorded height differ from geometric height by a constant. Multiplying $\rho$ by $r>0$ raises the apparent height by $\ln r/(2\kappa )$ without moving the geometric surface.

For a concrete ambiguity, choose $\kappa =10{\mathrm{nm}}^{-1}$, $a=0.020\mathrm{nm}$, lateral period $L=1\mathrm{nm}$, $s_0=0.50\mathrm{nm}$, and $q(x)=\cos (2\pi x/L)$. CompareBoth produce exactly $z(x)=s_0+aq(x)$ at $I_0=C{e}^{-2\kappa s_0}=C{e}^{-10}$. Substitution checks this without identifying $\rho$ with geometric height: case A has constant gap $s_0$, while case B has gap $s_0+aq(x)$ and a compensating electronic factor. The chosen ${\rho }_B$ ranges from $e^{-0.4}$ to $e^{0.4}$, approximately $0.6703$ to $1.4918$; every gap remains positive. The chosen $\kappa$ corresponds to $\Phi \simeq 3.81$ electronvolts, a positive effective barrier.

At fixed tip height $z_f=s_0$, both cases instead giveTheir maximum-to-minimum electric current ratio is $e^{0.8}\simeq 2.226$. Thus even adding this fixed-height scan at the same electric potential difference cannot distinguish these deliberately chosen surfaces within the toy model. Independent structural information or additional electronic measurements are required. Changing electric potential difference can supply such information, but also changes the assumptions used to define $C$ and $\rho$.

The local density of states resolves the density of states by position as well as energy. With a consistent counting of spin states, its integral over the specimen's volume gives the total density of states, $g(E)=\int \rho (\mathbf{r},E)d^3\mathbf{r}$. It describes the spatial distribution of available states, rather than their occupation.

An experimental physicist who, with collaborators, used scanning tunnelling microscopy to image standing waves in the electronic surface states of copper. Steps and defects scattered the two-dimensional electron gas, producing spatial oscillations in the local density of states. Measuring those patterns gave access to the electrons' dispersion relation, making a quantum-wave property visible in a real-space experiment.^[ref]

The static Lindhard dielectric function describes the real, zero-frequency linear response of a uniform free electron gas. Here ${ϵ}_1=\mathrm{Re}ϵ$, $\mathbf{r}$ is the position operator, and $\mathbf{q}$ is the perturbation wavevector, $q=|\mathbf{q}|$, $V$ the normalization volume, $e>0$ the elementary charge, and ${ϵ}_0$ the vacuum permittivity. The normalized one-electron states are ${\psi }_{\mathbf{k}}=V^{-1/2}{e}^{i\mathbf{k}\cdot \mathbf{r}}$ with $E_{\mathbf{k}}={\hslash }^2{k}^2/(2m_e)$; $f(E)$ is their Fermi-Dirac distribution occupation. Both momentum sums exclude spin; the prefactor two counts the two equal spin populations. The density-operator matrix element is ${\delta }_{{\mathbf{k}}^{\prime },\mathbf{k}+\mathbf{q}}$. Coincident energy denominators are interpreted by the static limit or Cauchy principal value.

A weak total electric potential ${\varphi }_{\mathrm{tot}}$ perturbs an electron by $-e{\varphi }_{\mathrm{tot}}$. First-order state mixing produces $\delta n=e{\Pi }_0(q){\varphi }_{\mathrm{tot}}$, whereThe induced charge is $-e\delta n$. Self-consistent Poisson equation screening then gives ${\varphi }_{\mathrm{ext}}=ϵ{\varphi }_{\mathrm{tot}}$, with $ϵ=1+e^2{\Pi }_0/({ϵ}_0{q}^2)$. This is the random phase approximation: use the independent-electron response to the self-consistent total field.^[ref]

At zero temperature $f(E_{\mathbf{k}})=\Theta (k_F-k)$. Shifting the integration variable in the second occupation term givesThe two angular integrals are equal. Using the supplied integral, with $x=q/(2k_F)$, givesThe limits are $F(0)=1$, $F(1)=1/2$ and $F(x)\sim 1/(3x^2)$ for large $x$. The first recovers Thomas-Fermi screening; the logarithm produces the Kohn singularity of static Lindhard screening at $q=2k_F$.

Use the Fourier transform convention $\rho (\mathbf{q})=\int d^{3}r{e}^{-i\mathbf{q}\cdot \mathbf{r}}\rho (\mathbf{r})$. A point charge $Ze$ has total screened charge $Ze/ϵ(q)$ and induced charge $-Ze[1-ϵ(q{)}^{-1}]$. Angular inversion therefore gives the radial induced-charge screening kernelIn particular, ${\rho }_{\mathrm{ind}}(\mathbf{q}=0)=-Ze$: the total screening charge is negative although its local density can oscillate in sign.

Integrate the sine transform by parts twice; $g(0)=g(\infty )=0$ removes the boundary terms. For the Friedel density tail from a derivative singularity, write $Q=2k_F$ and $g^{\prime \prime }(q)\sim C/(q-Q)$. ThenIndeed, near $Q$ the principal value transform is ${\int }_{-\infty }^{\infty }\sin [(Q+s)r]ds/s=\pi \cos (Qr)$ for $r>0$. Smooth terms do not remove this leading oscillatory long-range contribution. Thus ${\rho }_{\mathrm{ind}}\propto \cos (2k_{F}r)/r^3$.

For a three-dimensional, single-valley gas with two spin states, the Friedel oscillation wavelength from carrier density isLow-temperature scanning tunneling spectroscopy near exposed dopants can map the oscillatory local density of states, with a Fourier feature near $2k_F$ at the Fermi energy. An energy-resolved tunnelling image measures local spectral weight, not directly the bulk energy-integrated charge: comparing occupied-bias maps and accounting for the surface geometry is necessary. In actual GaAs, the background relative permittivity and band effective mass change screening strengths; they do not change this wavelength at the stated density.

Scanning tunneling microscopy uses a scanning tunneling microscope to map a surface from the electric current across a tunnel junction. In constant-current operation, feedback control adjusts the tip height to maintain a chosen electric current. The current-distance test of vacuum tunnelling explains the underlying distance sensitivity and its measurement limits.

The image records the response of a tunnel junction, rather than photographing chemical atoms. Its apparent height can reveal both surface structure and the local density of states; distinguishing them is part of interpreting the measurement.^[ref]