Question: The unit vectors of a two-dimensional hexagonal lattice are:

~a1 = ax̂
√
~a2 = a2 x̂ + 2
3
aŷ

Calculate the dispersion relation for this two-dimensional crystal using

tight-binding model. The equation for energy in the tight binding model is:
~
E =−t eik~ρm
P
m

Answer: In the equation for energy  and t are just constance. So all you
need to calculate is the sum:
~
eik~ρm
P
m

Where m means the sum over the next nearest neighbours. ρ~m are the
vectors pointing to the next nearest neighbours. And ~k is:
!
~k = kx
ky
First you have to find the ρ~m :

1
 Nearest neighbours and ρ~m

As you can see in!the figure the ρ~m are:

1
ρ~1 = ~a2 = a2 ∗ √
3!
1
ρ~2 = ~a1 = a ∗
0
!
1
√
ρ~3 = a2 ∗
− 3 ! !
−1
√ 1
ρ~4 =2∗a
= −2 ∗ √
a
− 3! !
3
−1 1
ρ~5 =a∗ = −a ∗
0 0
! !
a −1
√ a 1
√
ρ~6 =2∗ = −2 ∗
3 − 3
Now the sum over the next nearest neighbours can simply be calculated:
√ √ √ √
~ a a a a
eik~ρm = ei 2 (kx + 3ky )
+ e−i 2 (kx + 3ky )
+ ei 2 (kx − 3ky )
+ e−i 2 (kx − 3ky )
P
m +
e iakx
+ e−iakx

Since 2 ∗ cos(x) = eix + e−ix , the sum can also be written as:

2
 ~ √ √
eik~ρm = 2 ∗ [cos( a2 (kx + 3ky )) + cos( a2 (kx − 3ky )) + cos(akx )]
P
m

If you put that in the equation for the Energy you get the dispersion
relation:
√ √
E(~k) =  − 2t ∗ [cos( a2 (kx + 3ky )) + cos( a2 (kx − 3ky )) + cos(akx )]