Physics 551, Spring 2008 Syllabus
Marshall Onellion, onellion@wisc.edu, 877-2345
Office Hours: MWF 10AM- noon
The course topics are listed in some detail below. I will try to cover all topics, but there is a chance we will
need to cut a few. The course grade includes five homework assignments (40% of grade) and three
examinations (20% of grade each). You will know your final grade the last day of class. If you are not
satisfied with your grade, there will be an optional comprehensive final, equal to two examinations, that
you may choose to take, in which case the weighting will be: homework (2/7), each section examination
(3/7), final (2/7). The three section examinations will be take-home and open book, notes and internet,
while the optional final will be in-class and closed book. The text is the latest edition of C. Kittel, "Solid
State Physics."
I. Symmetry and Phase Transitions (5 lectures): Basic idea of group theory, applied to crystal
structure; phase transitions; connection between symmetry change and second order phase
transition
II. Structure (5 lectures): Bravais lattice; primitive lattice vectors; types of lattices; primitive unit cell;
Wigner- Seitz cell; reciprocal lattice; Brillouin zone; X-ray and other diffraction; types of Bravais lattices
and
crystal structures
---- Homework One (Sects. I, II): Out lecture 9, due lecture 12 ---III. Summary of Quantum Mechanics (3 lectures): Discrete energy levels; Angular momentum and discrete
angular momentum levels; Intrinsic- spin- angular momentum; Fermions and Bosons; Fermi-Dirac
and Bose-Einstein distribution functions; basic ideas of second quantization
IV. Lattice Vibrations (3 lectures): Lattice vibrations (classical and phonons); thermal properties of solids;
Einstein model; Debye theory; Gruneisen relation; lattice thermal conductivity
---- Homework Two (Sects. III, IV): Out lecture 15, due lecture 18---V. Electrons in crystals (5 lectures): Electron classical conductivity; free electron model of metals; FermiDirac distribution function; periodic potential; Bloch theorem; band structure; energy bands; Fermi
surface; tight-binding theory
-- Examination One (Sects. I through IV): Out lecture 21 (F), due lecture 22 (M) -VI. Electrons in metals (5 lectures): Semiclassical theory of electrons in metals (electrical and thermal
conductivity); Hall effect; magnetoresistance; magnetoacoustic effect; anomalous skin effect;
cyclotron resonance; Hartree-Fock approximation; exchange and screening
---- Homework Three (Sects. V, VI): Out lecture 24, due lecture 27 ---VII. Superconductivity (3 lectures): Electron-phonon interaction; superconductivity- phenomenology; BCS
theory; vortices; Josephson junctions; cuprate superconductivity
----- Examination Two (Sects. V and VI): Out lecture 30 (F), due lecture 31 (M) ----VIII. Semiconductors (5 lectures): Intrinsic semiconductors; defects; extrinsic semiconductors;
semiconductor heterostructures; semiconductor devices; dielectric properties of insulators
---- Homework Four (Sects. VII, VIII): Out lecture 36, due lecture 39 ---IX. Magnetism (5 lectures): Diamagnetism and paramagnetism; Langevin theory; Pauli paramagnetism;
Landau diamagnetism; Heisenberg model; ferromagnetism- ground state, spin waves; antiferromagnetismground state, spin waves; magnetic structures; Fermi liquid picture; quasiparticles
X. Nanoscience (3 lectures): Nanostructures; Mesoscopic phenomena; Quantum dots; Coulomb
blockade; Clusters
---- Homework Five (Sects. IX, X): Out lecture 39, due lecture 42 ------- Examination Three (Sects. VII through IX): Out lecture 43 (M), due lecture 44 (W) ------ Final grades available last day of class ----