PHYS512 Solid State Physics

PHYS 512 Solid State Physics

This is the central location for all information pertaining to the course. Everything you need can be found here including syllabus, lecture/exam schedule, and notices of schedule changes (which will appear at the top of the page highlighted in some obvious way). Most importantly, you will find here a table of all available class material.

There is a lot of this. All lectures have been produced beforehand and made available as mp3 and/or mov files. Assigned homework problems will be added to the online worked problems section sometime soon after their due date.

Let the format of the worked exercises serve as an example of the homework solutions you will eventually be called upon to turn in. Assigned homework problems will be added to the online worked problems section sometime soon after their due date.

You will be assumed to have familiarized yourselves with both the prerecorded lecture and reading before each class meeting. Face-to-face time in class will be taken up by interactive discussion. I will not give prepared lectures in class because you will have already heard what I have to say. Our time will be far better spent discussing what you do and don't understand than in an en masse listening session. This is only true, however, if you come to class prepared to discuss the issues. Therefore you need to prepare.

Class Material

The information below will not be static throughout the semester. I will be making additions and adjustments as required. In particular worked test problems will appear in the list below as appropriate.

We will follow the official text, Tanner, closely with the exception of the discussion of crystal structures and associated concepts (Miller indices, reciprocal space, etc.). For this you may wish to consult Kittel or Ashcroft if you want to see a discussion outside of the lectures below. Wikipedia also seems to have a reasonable discussion of many crystallographic concepts.

I have included the final subject of Tanner, Superconductivity, though we may not get to it by the end of the semester. We will see how things go.

Although there will be various formats for each topic (one or more of html, pdf, mp3, nb, swf, and mov) the content in each format is generally the same. You should consider the mov to be the main lecture. The pdf is just a conversion of the Mathematica notebook that provides the slides for the mov. The mp3 is the audio track of the mov.

Drude Model

Lecture 1 (mov, ipod size mov, mp3, nb)

Lecture 2 (mov, ipod size mov, mp3, nb)

Five Minute Conductivity (mov, ipod size mov, mp3, nb)

ance vs. ivity (mov, ipod size mov, mp3, nb)

Read Chapter 1.

Worked Problems: (pdf, nb)

Example Problem: (pdf)

Homework Assignment for Chapter 1: Tanner 1.1, 1.2, and

#3: Derive Ohm's law from Drude's model.

Due: 03 September 2008

Sommerfeld Model

Lecture 1 (mov, ipod size mov, mp3, nb)

Lecture 2 (mov, ipod size mov, mp3, nb)

Lecture 3 (mov, ipod size mov, mp3, nb)

Lecture 4 (mov, ipod size mov, mp3, nb)

Lecture 5 (mov, ipod size mov, mp3): This one is all talk, so you might as well only download the mp3.

Five Minute D(E) (mov, ipod size mov, mp3, nb)

Read Chapters 2 & 3.

Worked Problems: (pdf, nb)

Homework Assignment for Chapters 2 & 3: Tanner 2.2, 2.3, 2.5, and 3.1

Additional Graduate Student Homework: At the beginning of chapter 3, Tanner says "An approximate value of the electronic specific heat can be obtained by inspection of fig 2.5b. There it can be seen that the area of the tail above Ef is about kT.". Derive the exact relationship between the area under the FD distribution and the area above Ef.

Due: 12 September 2008

Test 1 solutions: (pdf)