Solid State And Crystal Physics

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Solid State Physics provides the basis for the most important technological advances of the 20th century.  It also provides a wide range of opportunities to ‘see’ the effects of Quantum Physics in action. Specific topics include: Free electron model of metals, Bloch states and energy bands, reciprocal space and the Fermi surface, electron dynamics, Landau levels, crystal structure, Brillouin zones, elementary diffraction theory, bonding, cohesive processes, impurity states, impurity conductivity, lattice vibration, monatomic and diatomic chain, acoustic and optic phonons, Einstein and Debye models, dielectric effects, basics of superconductivity.

COURSE JUSTIFICATION/RATIONALE

The course aims to apply theories of classical and quantum physics in order to investigate how atoms interact in condensed matter and how crystalline solids are formed.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

By the end of this course, the student should be able to:

• Explain behavior of electrons in metals and semiconductors, superconductivity, magnetic and optical properties of materials.
• Show their understanding of these topics and their underlying concepts by solving problems using a variety of mathematical tools.

• Give a detailed treatment of the quantum theory of solids.
• Introduce the student to the foundation theory of solid state electronic devices.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

A student completing the course is expected to:

• explain and predict a wide range of the important properties of materials such as bonding, magnetism, electronic transport
• explain how certain experimental data has led to the development of the basic theories of condensed matter physics and the boundaries of the applicability of these theories
• be equipped to go deeper into condensed matter physics either by further advanced courses or research