8.231 | Fall 2006 | Undergraduate

Physics of Solids I

Syllabus

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

Course Info

Instructor
Departments
As Taught In
Fall 2006
Learning Resource Types
Simulations
Problem Sets