Physics 541 – Fall 2011

Course outline

Condensed Matter Physics I
Lecture: CCIS 4-285 MW 14:00–15:30
Syllabus: pdf
Schedule: pdf

Textbooks

There is a single required textbook for this course:

• Solid State Physics, Neil W. Ashcroft and N. David Mermin, Harcourt (2002).
  ISBN-10: 0030839939 [ amazon.ca : U of A bookstore ]

Students may find some of these other books useful as well:

• Introduction to Solid State Physics, Charles Kittel, Wiley, 7th ed. (1995).
  ISBN-10: 0471111813 [ amazon.ca ]
• Principles of the Theory of Solids, J. M. Ziman, Cambridge University Press, 2nd ed. (1979).
  ISBN-10: 0521297338 [ amazon.ca ]
• Condensed Matter Physics, Michael P. Marder, Wiley, 2nd ed. (2010).
  ISBN-10: 0470617985 [ amazon.ca ]
• Condensed Matter in a Nutshell, Gerald D. Mahan, Princeton University Press (2010).
  ISBN-10: 0691140162 [ amazon.ca ]
• Principles of Condensed Matter Physics, P. M. Chaikin and T. C. Lubensky, Cambridge University Press (2000).
  ISBN-10: 0521794501 [ amazon.ca ]
• Lectures On Phase Transitions And The Renormalization Group, N. Goldenfeld, Westview Press (1992).
  ISBN-10: 0201554097 [ amazon.ca ]

Suggested readings

• “More Is Different,” P. W. Anderson, Science 117, 393 (1972). [ DOI lookup : JSTOR ]
• “Fun with Hard Spheres,” H. Löwen, Lecture Notes in Physics 554, 295 (2000). [ DOI lookup ]
• A nice online review of some basic materials science.
• This year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been won by a condensed matter physicist, Dan Shechtman, for his discovery of quasicrystals. Here's a neat online introduction to the topic.
• “A Semicentury of Semiconductors,” Alan B. Fowler, Physics Today (October 1993). [ DOI lookup ]
• “Self-similar dependence on dimension of Hamiltonians on hypercubic lattices,” H. M. Pastawski and Cristina Wiecko , Physical Review A 36, 5854 (1987). [ DOI lookup ]

Lectures

Below is a tentative list of topics. (I reserve the right to revise this as we go along.) The corresponding chapters in Ashcroft and Mermin's book are indicated; optional material is marked with an asterisk.

1. Introduction [ pdf ]
2. Symmetry breaking and ordered phases [ pdf ]
3. Solids, crystallinity, and Bravais lattices [ pdf ]
   [AM Ch. 4, 5, and 7*]
4. Scattering and experimental determination of crystal structures [ pdf ]
   [AM Ch. 6]
5. Cohesion and bonding [ pdf ]
   [AM Ch. 19 and 20]
6. Complex structures [ pdf ]
7. Lattice vibrations [ pdf ]
   [AM Ch. 21–24, and 25*]
8. Free electron gas [ pdf ]
   [AM Ch. 1–3]
9. Models of nearly-free and tightly-bound electrons [ pdf ]
   [AM Ch. 8–10]
10. Examples of tight-binding electronic structures
11. Experimental probes of the Fermi surface
    [AM Ch. 14 and 15*]
12. Band structure calculations
    [AM Ch. 11]
13. Transport
    [AM Ch. 12, 13, and 16]
14. Dielectric function of metals and insulators [ pdf ]
    [AM Ch. 26 and 27]
15. Optical properties
16. Surfaces, interfaces, and low-dimensional systems [ pdf ]
    [AM Ch. 18, and check out this video of the Si(111) surface reconstruction]
17. Defects, disorder and localization [ pdf ]
    [AM Ch. 30]
18. Semiconductors [ pdf ]
    [AM Ch. 28]
19. Fabrication technologies and p-n junctions [ pdf ]
    [AM Ch. 29]
20. Semiconductor devices [ pdf ]
21. Electron-electron interactions [ pdf ]
    [AM Ch. 17]
22. Fermi Liquid Theory [ pdf ]
23. Electron-phonon interactions
24. Superconductivity
    [AM Ch. 34]

Assignments

Each of the five assignments are due in class on the day indicated.

1. Crystal structures and their characterization
   instructions [ pdf ], solutions [ pdf ]
   due Monday, October 3
2. Bonding and vibrational modes
   instructions [ pdf ], partial solutions [ pdf ]
   due Wednesday, October 19
3. Electronic density of states
   instructions [ pdf ], solutions [ pdf ]
   due Wednesday, November 9
4. Band structure and the dielectric function
   instructions [ pdf ] solutions [ pdf ]
   due Wednesday, November 23
5. De Haas-van Alphen effect, surface adatoms, and doped semiconductors
   instructions [ pdf ], solutions [ pdf ]
   due Monday, December 5

Midterm

We have an in-class midterm scheduled for Wednesday, October 26. You are responsible for the material covered in Lectures 1–7 and the relevant readings from the textbook.

Update: Your test papers have been graded and will be handed back in class on Monday, October 31. Here are the exam and solutions.
2011 midterm exam [ pdf ], solutions [ pdf ]

The class average was 29.0/50 (58%). Along with your numerical score, I included an approximate letter grade (based on the standard distribution for a 500-level class).