Introduction to Solid-State Physics
When and where:Tuesday and Thursday 11-12:30, 180 Tan Hall
Format: Two lectures per week (student participation strongly encouraged), bi-weekly homework assignments
Instructor: Professor Dmitry Budker
- Office: 273 Birge, Labs: 203/207, 217, 219, 221, 230, 241, 245, 249 Birge
- e-mail: budker AT Berkeley.edu
- research group web page
Professor's Office hour: by appointment (send e-mail to setup), 273 Birge
Graduate Student Instructor: Lokman Tsui [lokman_AT_berkeley.edu]; course office: 463 Birge
Synopsis and goals of the course: The course will provide a professional introduction to the vast subject of solid-state physics, where the concepts of thermodynamics and quantum mechanics are put to practice. Wherever possible, we will attempt to use simplest possible models retaining the gist of the phenomena, and will try to minimize lengthy formal calculations in favor of order-of-magnitude estimates. We will attempt to touch upon some modern topics, partially in lectures, and partially through several students' presentations.
Required text: Ch. Kittel. Introduction to Solid State Physics. Eighth Edition, Wiley.This is a great classic text packed with essential information. Many readers find it a bit "dense" and overly laconic.
Recommended texts:
General:
- Fundamentals of Condensed Matter and Crystalline Physics by David L. Sidebottom. This book is more "readable" than Kittel, and also has more material on non-crystalline matter. Beware of errors/misprints typical for first editions
- A Nice Condensed Matter course with free e-book by Prof. Steve Simon of Oxford
- Atomic Physics by D. Budker, D. F. Kimball and D. DeMille
Specific topics:
- Optical Properties of Solids by M. Fox
- Optically Polarized Atoms by M. Auzinsh, D. Budker, and S. M. Rochester
- Single-photon Devices and Applications by C. Santori, D. Fattal, and Y. Yamamoto
- Molecular Quantum Mechanics by P. Atkins and R. Friedman (Chapter 5: Group Theory)
Grading policy: the grade will be based on homework (30%), midterm (on Feb. 26; 30%), final exam (40%), and oral presentation in class (for those who present: additional 1/2 grade)
Final exam: THURSDAY, MAY 16, 2013 8-11A 101 Morgan
Invaluable resource: questions on organizational aspects of the course may be directed to Ms. Claudia Trujillo of Physics Student Services.
Newsflash!
Find out about the most recent Nobel Prizes in Physics!
Lecture Notes, Electronic Tutorials
- Physics 141 Spring 2013 Selected Lecture Notes will be available on bspace
Assorted Physics-Related Links, Web Resources
- Department of Physics Colloquia (with videos): Mondays 4:10-5:00 in 1 LeConte Hall, UC Berkeley
- UC Berkeley Condensed Matter Seminar Series (290K): Mondays 2:30-3:30 in 3 LeConte Hall, UC Berkeley
- 290F "Atomic" physics seminar
- Budker group web tutorials
- Physics124: Introductory Nuclear Physics
- Web Elements Periodic Table
- Nuclear Science Division, LBNL
- Particle Data Group (PDG)
- Radioactivity and radiation protection (from PDG) (pdf)
- Some links that may help you with mathematics
Homework
- Assignment #1; due January 31
- Assignment #2; due February 14
- Assignment #3; due March 7
- Assignment #4; due March 21
- Assignment #5; due April 4
- Assignment #6; due April 22
Oral-presentation topics, schedule, and slides
Louis Kang | Discovery of quasicrystals | 2/14 |
Michael Tsang | Optical absorption of a single layer of grahene | 2/28 |
Kevin Edward Babb and Petar Petrov | Nanowires and graphene: applications | 3/5 |
Robert James Shalloo | Discoveries of Superconductivity | 3/7 |
Nathan Brummel | SEM, TEM, Bragg Law | 3/12 |
Yixing Fu | Supersolids | 3/14 |
Shawn Tang |
How the Fermi surface of copper was first measured experimentally |
3/19 |
Satej Soman and Robert Tang-Kong | Mott metal-insulator transition | 3/21 |
Elan Lavie | van Hove singularities | 4/4 |
Matthew Melissa | GMR | 4/4 |
Richard Beck | The Hall Effects | 4/9 |
Yude Su | Nano-wire Photoelectrochemical cell | 4/11 |
Skylar Kerzner | Strongest materials/space elevator | 4/11 |
Huimin Yang and Zhifan He | Quantized resistance | 4/16 |
Rob Johns | Molecular Crystals + the LEIST efect | 4/16 |
Leslie Hamachi and Allison Wustrow | Nanoparticles | 4/18 |
Carly Anderson and Emily Davidson | Conducting polymers | 4/23 |
Aayush Singh and Robert Riestenberg | Solar-cell efficiency | 4/23 |
Thang Toan Pham | Nanotubes | 4/25 |
Steven Munn | STM and imaging techniques | 4/30 |
The winners: L.Kang & Jihoon Kim | Graphene-absorption-challenge presentation | 4/30 |
Xining Zang | Silicene, germinene, and Graphite acetylene | 5/2 |
Dohyung Kim |
Heterogeneous catalysis and solid-state physics | 5/2 |
Byungmook Kim and Hyunkyung Bae | Nanosensors | 5/7 |
Lu Zheng and Yize Jin | Topological Insulators | 5/7 |
- Discovery of quasicrystals
- Optical absorption of a single layer of graphene
- Hall effects in solids
- Mott metal-insulator transition
- How was the Fermi surface of copper first measured experimentally?
- Nanotubes and nanowires
- Strongest materials/the Space Elevator
- Discovery of superconductivity
- Supersolids?
- What is a topological insulator (TI)? Interesting properties of TI
- Is resistance quantized? What is the quantum of resistance. Which context does it arise in? A simple derivation of the quantum of resistance
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Suggest your own
Acknowledgment and Disclaimer:This material is based in part upon work supported by the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recomendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation (NSF).