Lectures: 18 h

Objectives

When we seek to describe the electrical, magnetic, optical or thermal behaviour of solids, taking into account the large number of atoms per unit volume, it is not possible to carry out a precise analysis based on the behaviour of each atom.
Solid state physics makes it possible to construct models which, when experimentally verified, may be considered as representative.
The formalism constructed to this end has numerous applications. Examples in diverse fields and which sometimes appear to be far removed from solid state physics will be given.

Syllabus

• Diffraction
  
• Elastic vibrations in solids
  
• Dispersion relations
  
• Phonons
  
• Specidic heat
  
• The Debye model
  
• Phonon phonon interaction
  
• Electronic properties of solids
  
• Free electron models, nearly free electron models, and strongly bound electron models
  
• Band models
  
• Electrical properties of solids
  
• Different types of solid
  
• Non-equilibrium phenomena
  
• Transport equation
  
• Application examples
  
• Superconductivity
  
• Magnetism

Tutorials

• Periodic systems
  
• Vibrations and phonons
  
• Specific heat, paramagnetic susceptibility, the nearly-free electron
  
• Electronic structure of graphene
  
• Semiconductors and the P-N junction - applications
  
• The field effect transistor and the 2-D electron gas
  
• The quantum Hall effect

Requirements : M1 level in physics

Evaluation mechanism : written exam (2-3 hours)

Last Modification : Wednesday 5 July 2017