Instructor: Kai Sun
Email:
sunkai@umich.edu
Phone: 734-764-0730
Office: 2245
Randall
Homepage: Kai Sun's Homepage
Time and Place:
Time: 1:00-2:30pm Tuesday and Thursday
Place: 335 West Hall
Office Hour:
Wednesday 3:00-4:00pm (2245 Randall).
Announcement: (Canvas)
Course Description:
This course provides an introduction to condensed matter physics, including transport, lattice structures, elastic properties, band structure theory, superconductivity, magnetism, disorder effects, etc. By the end of the semester, I expect that students will have a firm understanding of the basic concepts and phenomena in solid state physics.
In most other courses we have taken before, the main task is to learn some new physics laws and principles. In this course, we will utilize various physics laws (learned in this course or previous courses) to understand/explain the interesting phenomena in various solid state materials, in preparation for future scientific research on solid states physics and material sciences.
Textbook:
Lecture notes: will be posted online after each lecture
Textbook: Ashcroft and Mermin, Solid State Physics
Course outline and lecture notes:
Part I: Electrons in metals
Chapter 1: Basic ideas (notes: 1/10/2019)
Chapter 2: Drude theory(notes: 1/15/2019,1/17/2019,1/22/2019,1/24/2019)
Chapter 3: Sommerfeld theory (notes: 1/29/2019,2/5/2019,2/7/2019)
Part II: What are ions doing in a solid?
Chapter 4: Crystal Lattices (2/12/2019,2/14/2019)
Interactive demonstrations: translations
Interactive demonstrations: honeycome lattices
Chapter 5: Symmetries, point group in a nutshell (2/14/2019,2/19/2019)
Extral reading: Representations (notes):
Chapter 6: Difffraction (lecture note)
Chapter 7: Crystal Viberations (notes: 2/26/2019, 3/12/2019)
Interactive demonstrations: Longitudinal modes
Interactive demonstrations: Transverse modes
Interactive demonstrations: Both types of modes in one figure
Chapter 8: Elasticity (3/12/2019, 3/14/2019)
Chapter 9: Thermal Properties of Phonons (3/14/2019,3/19/2019,3/21/2019)
Part III: What are electrons doing in a solid
Chapter 10: Energy Bands (3/26/2019,3/28/2019,4/2/2019)
Why are there two types of solids: conductors and insulators? This is a quantum phenomenon.
Are there other states beyond conductors and insulators? Superconductors and topological insulators.
Chapter 11: Metals (4/2/2019, 4/4/2019)
1. Interactive figures: the Brillouin zone of a square lattice
2. Interactive figures: the Brillouin zone of a hexagonal lattice
Chapter 12a: Insulators (4/9/2019,4/11/2019)
Chapter 12b: Topological insulators (4/11/2019,4/16/2019)
Reading materials (not required)Chapter 13: Superconductors:
Reading materials (not required)
Chapter 14: High temperature superconductors
Part IV: What are the spins doing in a solid?
Part V: Modern condensed matter physics (Chapter 12b and 14)
Part VI: What are the effect of disorders (Chapter 12a)?
Homeworks (bi-weekly):
Course work and grading:
Your class grade will be based on problem sets (40%), final presentation (20%), mid-term (20%) and final (20%).
- Problem sets: will be posted on Thursday every other week and will be due on the succeeding Thursday in class.
- Mid-term: Tentative schedule 2/28 (same time and location as the lectures)
- Final presentation: 4/16, 4/18 and 4/23 (time and location: same as the lecture). Each person will give a 8 minute presentation (plus 2 minutes for questions) on a topic you choose relevant to condesed matter physics. Need to tell/send the topic before 3/15 for approval.
- Final exam. According to the University Finaly Exam Scheudle, our exam will be 4:00pm - 6:00pm Friday, April 26 at 1372 East Hall.