Syllabus
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Course Code: PHY 303A Course Name: Condensed Matter Physics-I |
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| MODULE NO / UNIT | COURSE SYLLABUS CONTENTS OF MODULE | NOTES |
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| 1 | Semiconductor crystals, Fermi surfaces & metals, and Magnetotransport (12 hrs.) Semiconductor crystals: Band gap, Direct and indirect absorption processes; Equations of motion in an energy band, Concept and properties of holes, Effective mass and its physical interpretation, Effective masses in semiconductors, Examples of Silicon and Germanium; Intrinsic carrier concentration, Law of mass action, Intrinsic mobility. Fermi surfaces and metals: Fermi surface and its construction for square lattice (free electrons and nearly free electrons); Electron orbits, Hole orbits, Open orbits; Experimental determination of Fermi surface: Quantization of orbits in a magnetic field, De Hass-van Alphen effect, Extremal orbits. Magnetoresistance in a two-dimensional channel, Integral Quantized Hall Effect. |
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| 2 | Optical properties of solids (12 hrs.) Dielectric function of the free electron gas, Plasma optics, Dispersion relation for em waves, Transverse optical modes in a plasma, Transparency of alkalis in the ultraviolet, Longitudinal plasma oscillations, Plasmons and their measurement; Electrostatic screening, Screened Coulomb potential, Mott metal-insulator transition, Screening and phonons in metals; Optical reflectance, Kramers-Kronig relations, Electronic inter-band transitions, Excitons, Frenkel and Mott-Wannier excitons; Raman effect in crystals; Electron spectroscopy with X-rays. |
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| 3 | Dielectrics and Ferroelectrics (12 hrs.) Polarization, Macroscopic electric field, Dielectric susceptibility, Local electric field at an atom, Dielectric constant and polarizability, Clausius-Mossotti relation, Electronic polarizability, Classical theory of electronic polarizability; Structural phase transitions; Ferroelectric crystals and their classification; Displacive transitions; Landau theory of the phase transition; Anti-ferroelectricity, Ferroelectric domains; Piezoelectricity, Ferroelasticity. |
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| 4 | Magnetism (14 hrs.) Diamagnetism and paramagnetism: Magnetization density and susceptibility, Calculation of atomic susceptibilities, Larmor diamagnetism; Quantum theory of paramagnetism- Curie law; Hund's rules; Paramagnetic susceptibility of conduction electrons. Ferromagnetism and anti-ferromagnetism: Ferromagnetic order, Mean field theory- Curie-Weiss law; Electrostatic origins of magnetic interactions, Magnetic properties of a two-electron system, Singlet-triplet (exchange) splitting in Heitler-London approximation, Exchange interaction; Spin Hamiltonian and the Heisenberg model; Spin waves and their dispersion; Quantization of spin waves, Magnons, Thermal excitation of magnons and Bloch T3/2 law; Neutron magnetic scattering (principle); Ferromagnetic domains: Magnetization curve, Bloch wall, Origin of domains; Antiferromagnetic order and magnons. |
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