It is most commonly employed in quantum mechanical simulations of the electronic band structure in solids.
[5] One application is found in the variational theory developed by Jan Korringa (1947) and by Walter Kohn and N. Rostoker (1954) referred to as the KKR method.
[6][7][8] This method has been adapted to treat random materials as well, where it is called the KKR coherent potential approximation.
Within these regions, the screened potential experienced by an electron is approximated to be spherically symmetric about the given nucleus.
In the atom-centered regions, the wave functions can be expanded in terms of spherical harmonics and the eigenfunctions of a radial Schrödinger equation.