Course Meeting Times
Lectures: 3 sessions / week:
Lec 1, 2: 1.5 hours / session
Lec 3: 1 hour / session
Prerequisites
8.044 (Statistical Physics I) and 8.05 (Quantum Physics II)
Texts
The textbook for this class is:
Kittel, Charles. Introduction to Solid State Physics. 8th ed. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, 2004. ISBN: 9780471415268.
A useful reference is:
Ashcroft, Neil W., and N. David Mermin. Solid State Physics. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1976. ISBN: 9780030839931.
Exams
There will be three in-class exams and a final exam. All exams are open-book and open-note exams.
Homework
There will be 10 problem sets, assigned roughly once a week.
Grading
| ACTIVITIES | PERCENTAGES |
|---|---|
| In-class exams | 30% (10% each) |
| Final exam | 30% |
| Homework | 40% |
Topics
- Periodic structure and symmetry of crystals
- Diffraction, reciprocal lattice
- Chemical bonding
- Lattice dynamics
- Phonons
- Thermal properties
- Free electron gas
- Model of metals
- Bloch theorem and band structure
- Nearly free electron approximation
- Tight binding method
- Fermi surface
- Semiconductors
- Electrons
- Holes
- Impurities
- Optical properties
- Excitons
- Magnetism
Calendar
| SES # | KEY DATES |
|---|---|
| 4 | Problem set 1 due |
| 7 | Problem set 2 due |
| 9 | Problem set 3 due |
| 10 | Exam 1 |
| 14 | Problem set 4 due |
| 17 | Problem set 5 due |
| 19 | Exam 2 |
| 23 | Problem set 6 due |
| 25 | Problem set 7 due |
| 27 |
Exam 3 Problem set 8 due |
| 30 | Problem set 9 due |
| 36 | Problem set 10 due |
| 39 | Final exam |
