Lectures 2018 - Condensed Matter Physics

Reading chapters refer to Ashcroft & Mermin, unless anything else is specified. Reading the material ahead of the lecture gives you a better understanding of difficulties and unclear concepts. If you email me questions in advance, I can try to prepare detailed answers and examples to complement the textbook. The problems in the book are pretty hard. The recommended problems may be a good help in studying and/or repeating the material.

The problem collection (used for the repetition lectures) can be downloaded here.

A collection of useful expressions can be downloaded here.

NOTE! Any changes to lecture location and/or time will be announced at the lectures and at this page.

Lecture Topic Lecture notes Reading Suitable problems
1. Jan. 16, 2018 Drude model of metals Lecture1.pdf
Lect1Notes.pdf 		Ch. 1 1.1, 1.2
Introduction to metals, DC and AC electrical conductivity, Hall effect, magnetoresistance

2. Jan. 18 Sommerfeld theory of metals Lecture2.pdf
Lect2Notes.pdf 		Ch. 2, 3 2.4
Fermi-Dirac distribution, free electrons, boundary conditions, density of states, Fermi energy, chemical potential, electron specific heat, mean free path, thermal conductivity, thermopower

3. Jan. 23 Crystal lattices Lecture3.pdf
Lect3Notes.pdf 		Ch. 4 4.1, 4.2, 4.5, 4.6
Bravais lattice, primitive vectors, coordination number, unit cell, Wigner-Seitz cell, lattice with basis, crystal structure, close packing

4. Jan. 25 Quick-test*, repetition, examples Problems1.pdf Ch. 1-4 Problem collection 1:1-1:7, 5:1-5:6
*The test will be around 15 minutes. It will check awareness of basic key concepts introduced in the course. Each test may give up to 1 extra point on the exam.
5. Jan. 30 The reciprocal lattice Lecture5.pdf
Lect5Notes.pdf 		Ch. 5, (6) 5.1
Reciprocal lattice definition, first Brillouin zone, family of lattice planes, Miller indices, planes and directions, X-ray diffraction

6. Feb. 1 Bloch's theorem Lecture6.pdf
Lect6Notes.pdf 		Ch. 8 8.1a, 8.2a,b
Periodic potientials, Bloch's theorem, Born-von Karman boundary condition, crystal momentum, band index, Fermi surface, band gap, density of levels, van Hove singularities

7. Feb. 6 Nearly free electrons
Tight-binding 		Lecture7.pdf
Lect7Notes.pdf 		Ch. 9, 10 9.1, 9.5
Effect of weak periodic potential, constant-energy surface close to Bragg plane, reduced, extended, and repeated zone schemes, energy gap, higher Brillouin zones, geometrical structure factor, effect of spin-orbit coupling, tight-binding approximation, insulators, range of ψn, Wannier function, overlap integral, hybridization, Mott transition

8. Feb. 8 Quick-test, repetition, examples Problems2.pdf Ch. 5, 6, 8-10 Problem collection 1:8, 2:1-2:6, 6:1-6:7
9. Feb. 8 Lattice vibrations Lecture9.pdf
Lect9Notes.pdf 		Ch. 21, 22 22.2
Law of Dulong and Petit, classical harmonic crystal, normal modes, dispersion relation, acoustic and optical branches

10. Feb. 13 Lattice vibrations II Lecture10.pdf
Lect10Notes.pdf 		Ch. 23 23.3
Quantum harmonic crystal, phonons, zero-point vibrations, low-temperature specific heat, Debye model, Einstein model, Debye temperature, density of normal modes, van Hove singularities

11. Feb. 15 Phonons in metals
Dielectric properties
Defects in crystals 		Lecture11.pdf
Lect11Notes.pdf 		Ch. 25
Ch. 26
Ch. 27
Ch. 30
Temperature dependence of electrical resistivity, umklapp process, phonon drag, vacancy, interstitial, color center, polaron, exciton, screw dislocation, edge dislocation, Burger vector, stacking fault, low-angle grain boundary, pyroelectricity, piezoelectricity, ferroelectricity

12. Feb. 15 Quick-test, repetition, examples Problems3.pdf Ch. 21-23, 26, 27, 30 Problem collection 3:1-3:5, 4:1-4:7
13. Feb. 20 Band structure of metals
Surface effects 		Lecture13.pdf
Lect13Notes.pdf 		Ch. 14, 15, 18 15.3
de Haas − van Alphen effect, cyclotron frequency, Landau levels, d-band, color of a metal, high-field Hall coefficient, importance of crystal structure for metallic properties, work function, contact potentials, thermionic emission

14. Feb. 22 Semiconductors Lecture14.pdf
Lect14Notes.pdf 		Ch. 28
Energy gap, conduction band, valence band, effective mass, cyclotron resonance, nondegenerate and degenerate semiconductors, intrinsic semiconductors, donor level, acceptor level, p-n junction

15. Feb. 22 Magnetism Lecture15.pdf
Lect15Notes.pdf 		Ch. 31, 32, 33
Diamagnetism, paramagnetism, susceptibility, Hund's rules, Curie's law, quenching, Pauli paramagnetism, Knight shift, ferromagnetism, Kondo effect, antiferromagnetism, ferrimagnetism, mean-field theory, Curie-Weiss law, domains

16. Feb. 27 Classification of solids
Cohesive energy 		Lecture16.pdf
Lect16Notes.pdf 		Ch. 19, 20 19.2
20.4

Covalent crystals, molecular crystals, ionic crystals, metals, hydrogen-bonded crystals, Lennard-Jones potential, Madelung constant, electrostatic potential energy

17. Mar. 1 Quick-test, repetition, examples Problems4.pdf Ch. 14, 15, 18-20 Problem collection 7:1-7:4
18. Mar. 6 Superconductivity Lecture18.pdf
Lect18Notes.pdf 		Ch. 34
Critical temperature, Meissner effect, critical field, type-I, type-II, Abrikosov vortex, mixed state, specific heat, thermal conductivity, energy gap, tunneling, London equation, BCS theory, Ginzburg-Landau theory, fluxoid quantization, Josephson effect
This chapter will not be included on the exam in 2015.

19. Mar. 8 Example exam solving Exam070326.pdf Ch. 28, 29, 31-34 (Problem collection 8:1-8:9, 9:1-9:6)
Mar. 13
 EXAM.
The front and back cover of A.M., plus this formula sheet will be handed out at the exam. Calculator and Beta (mathematics handbook) are also allowed. 		Formulas.pdf Ch. 1-6, 8-10, 14, 15, 18-23, 26-34