Scope: This class will cover the fundamentals of solid state physics, which is sometimes called “hard” condensed matter physics (as opposed to “soft” condensed matter physics). The class will move rather quickly through the topics listed below, following the order in the textbook by Mihaly and Martin. More detail is provided at the end of the syllabus.

Crystal structures (2 lectures)

Interatomic forces and vibrations (3 lectures)

Electronic band structure (3 lectures)

Density of states (3 lectures)

Elementary excitations (2 lectures)

Thermodynamics of non-interacting quasiparticles (3 lectures)

Transport properties (4 lectures)

Optical properties and interactions (4 lectures)

Mesoscopic and nanoscale systems (3 lectures)

Textbooks:

Mihaly and Martin, Solid State Physics, Problems and Solutions, ISBN978-3-527-40855-9. (available at the UCSB bookstore or your favorite online source)

There exists a very large number of textbooks on solid state physics. The subject is so vast that most of the textbooks are massive and expensive. Many of these are on reserve in the UCSB library. I have chosen a rather slim, new and unconventional textbook by Mihaly and Martin (M&M) for the class. The focus of M&M is on solving problems in solid state physics. Each chapter begins with a few pages which quote (without derivation) and place into context the most important results corresponding to the chapter title. The reader is referred to one or more of the conventional textbooks for a complete understanding and derivation of a particular result. I find M&M extremely useful as a reference, because I don’t have to flip through 600 pages to find a particular key result. It also has a lot of good problems, which we will use in a variety of ways.

Jeno Solyom, Fundamentals of the physics of solids, volume I , Structure and dynamics.

http://www.springerlink.com/content/x1052n/. Free online.

Jeno Solyom, Fundamentals of the physics of solids, volume II , Electronic properties. http://www.springerlink.com/content/qp8864/. Free online.

M&M needs to be used together with one or more of the conventional textbooks. I have chosen a relatively new, 2-volume textbook by Solyom for several reasons: I find that it is well-written and very clear, is at an appropriate level of sophistication for a graduate course, covers most of the material I would like to cover, and is very inexpensive for UC students and staff. Any solid state physicist, however, will need several textbooks in his or her library. I recommend browsing through the textbooks that are on reserve in the library to find the ones which suit you.

Grading:

Problem sets: 40%. Due 5 pm in André’s mailbox

Midterm exam (take-home with time limit): 20%

Final exam (take-home with time limit): 40%

Tentative schedule of lectures, reading and assignments

Date	Lecture no.	Topic	Reading M&M	Reading Solyom	Reading Davies	Interesting web links	Assignment	solutions
9/25	1	Introduction		Chapter 1 and 2
M28		No class—Yom Kippur	Chapter 1
30	2	Crystal symmetries		Chapter 5		Bravais lattice song	1 (due in class)
10/2	3	Determination of crystal structure		Chapter 8		x-ray diffraction
M5	4	Laue condition, Ewald construction, demo.	Chapter 2	Chapter 11,13
7	5	Lattice vibrations in 1-D
9	6	Optical phonons; phonons in 2 and 3D					2	2sols
M12	7	Electronic Band Structure Floquet-Bloch theorem	Chapter 3	Chapters 17-19
14	8	Hamiltonian with periodic potential expanded in plane waves				Lecture notes
16	9	Matrix form of Hamiltonian; bandgaps; exact diagonalization				Lecture notes	3	3sols
M19	10	Tight binding model Phonon density of states	Chapter 4
21	11	Counting states in 1, 2 and 3D		12.1, 12.2
23	12	Density of states in 1, 2, and 3D					4	4sols
M26	13	2D electron gases in GaAs/AlGaAs quantum wells
28	14	2DEG in a magnetic field			QHE chapter	QHE chapter
30	15	Landau levels
M11/2	16	Classical 2DEG in B field; resistivity and conductivity tensors
4	17	Shubnikov-de-Haas oscillations in 2DEG				Notes Lectures13-17
6	18	Start take-home midterm in class.					Hand out take-home midterm
M9	19	The quantum conductance of a single quantum channel					Return take-home midterm
11		Veteran’s day
13	20	The Quantum Hall effect
M16	21	Equilibrium thermodynamic properties of solids, and why you should care about them.	Chapter 6
18	22	Specific heat of insulators		12.3.2
20	23	Specific heat of metals		16.2.7			5
M23	24	Electron and heat currents in an electron gas: perturbed distribution functions	Chapter 7	16.3.2
25	25	Electric and heat currents in an electron gas		16.3.3		Notes Lectures 19-25
27		Thanksgiving
M30	26	Thermoelectric phenomena		16.3.4
12/2	27	Thermal conductivity, electrical conductivity, and thermopower in Sommerfeld model				Notes Lectures 26-27	6
4	28	Calculating density of states.					Hand out take-home final.

Announcements:

There is now a listserv for the class. Visit https://mail.physics.ucsb.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys223 to join and get announcements.