Physics 489 – Solid State Bibliography:
In addition to the course text the list below gives some other general texts, and more focused
books for specific reference. The list extends into some graduate-level texts.
A. General Solid State Texts:
Course text: Kittel, Introduction to Solid State Physics. In 8th edition, long history of use as
general text. Current edition includes recent developments.
Other recommended books, arranged very roughly by order of increasing sophistication:
Rosenberg, The Solid State. Nice introductory book.
Hook & Hall, Solid State Physics. Might be a good compement for this course, interesting order
of materials.
Omar, Elementary Solid State Physics. I recommend this as optional choice, nicely written
text provides a good framework for the important physics results, althouth lacks coverage of
recent developments.
Blakemore, Solid State Physics. Interesting treatment especially for principles of semiconductor
physics.
Gersten & Smith The Physics and Chemistry of Materials. (2001) Aimed at a slightly wider
audience including materials sciences. Many specific materials references [if a bit
encyclopedic]. If you purchase this book it also has a huge web-based supplement with great
detail on modern techniques and materials.
Snoke, Solid State Physics: Essential Concepts. (2009) Recent graduate text has good coverage
of optics, Bose condensation, and related topics, electronic structure.
Ashcroft and Mermin, Solid State Physics. Classic graduate course text, very well written. Not so
up to date but we often use it for our graduate course.
Harrison, Solid State Theory, and Electronic Structure and the Properties of Solids. The first is a
good general introduction, though more of a graduate text. Second one provides a more
chemical perspective. Both are inexpensive in Dover editions.
Ziman, Principles of the Theory of Solids (1972). Classic, still excellent grad-level introduction.
Kaxiras, Atomic and Electronic Structure of Solids (2003).
Ibach and Lüth, Solid State Physics. Somewhat more materials focused; popular graduate text
now out in 4th edition. (2009)
Mahan, Condensed Matter in a Nutshell. (2010) Terse but interesting; physics-oriented general
text includes comprehensive and up-to-date overview of many current topics.
Marder, Condensed Matter Physics. Comprehensive graduate text; 2010 2nd edition has many
recent examples.
Jones and March, Theoretical Solid State Physics. A more advanced text, I like this classic twovolume set. Not so expensive in Dover paperback.
Callaway, Quantum Theory of the Solid State. Advanced text.
B. A few recommended topical texts and more detailed references:
Yu and Cardona, Fundamentals of Semiconductors. 4th ed. out in 2010; good and up-to date for
fundamentals of semiconductor materials, also optical properties.
S. M. Sze, Physics of Semiconductor Devices. classic work on this topic. 3rd ed. out in 2006.
Fox, Optical Properties of Solids. Focused introduction for more detail on optical properties.
Blundell, Magnetism in Condensed Matter. Useful introduction, a good place to get started if
you are interested in magnetism.
Chikazumi and Soshin, Physics of Ferromagnetism. Monograph with great depth on this topic.
Rose-Innes and Rhoderick, Introduction to Superconductivity. Clearly written introduction.
Tinkham, Introduction to Superconductivity. Good comprehensive reference for more detail
(graduate level).
Martin, Electronic Structure Basic Theory and Practical Methods (2004). In-depth description of
density functional and related modern theories and methods for computational electronic
structures. (graduate level)