Download Examination questions Division of Condensed Matter Physics

Examination questions Division of Condensed Matter Physics
1. Types of chemical bonds.
2. Methods of determination of chemical composition of materials.
3. Symmetries of solids and foundations of crystallography: crystal lattices, crystal systems,
space groups.
4. Determining structure of a solid by diffraction methods: reciprocal lattice, Braggs’ law, types
of radiation used in crystallography.
5. Mesophases and soft matter: liquid crystals, plastic crystals, molecular glasses; effects of
molecular disorder on properties of materials.
6. Lattice Dynamics of spatially periodic systems: Brillouin zones, Bloch’s theorem, phonon
dispersion relations.
7. Spectroscopic and scattering methods in studies of dynamics of solids: dielectric
spectroscopy, reflection and absorption of infrared, visible and ultraviolet radiation,
scattering of neutrons and charged particles.
8. Thermodynamic properties of materials: heat capacity, the simplest models of solids,
Einstein’s model and Debye’s model.
9. Macroscopic properties of solids: electric and magnetic susceptibility, elasticity of materials.
10. Electronic structure of solids: insulators, semiconductors, semimetals, metals.
11. Applications of semiconductors: transistor light emitting diodes (LED).
12. Magnetic properties of materials: diamagnetism, paramegnetism, ferromagnetism.
13. Transport phenomena in solids: models of electric conductivity, Brownian motions, diffusion
equation.
14. Phase transitions: thermodynamic classification, phase diagrams, critical phenomena.
15. Studies of solid surfaces: diffraction methods and scanning probe microscopies STM/AFM.
16. Surface dynamics: surface states, work function.
17. Superconductivity: mechanisms and applications.
18. Quantum dots, quantum wires, quantum wells: fabrication, electronic states in low
dimensional systems.
19. Carbon nanostructures: fullerenes, nanotubes, graphen…
20. Classical and quantum Hall effect.
Literature
From among numerous textbooks and reviews available in the market we select below those that treat the above problems in
a possibly concise way. Valuable supplementary information can be also found in the net.
1. C. Kittel, Introduction to Solid State Physics, John Wile, 2004. A classical and widely used text on the solid
state.
2. H. Ibach, H. Lüth, Solid-State Physics: An Introduction to Principles of Materials Science
(Advanced Texts in Physics), Springer, 2009. “This text is very concise and made for the student or professional
who want to get to the theory fast and keep the key concepts and derivations fresh in his mind.” (from a customer review).
3. A. Oleś, Metody doświadczalne fizyki ciała stałego, WNT, 1998. Przegląd technik eksperymentalnych
z wprowadzeniem teoretycznym. Skrócona wersja znajduje się na stronie
http://fatcat.ftj.agh.edu.pl/~zffs/dopobrania/wmeffs.pdf
4. P. Atkins, J. de Paula, Physical Chemistry, W.H. Freeman & Company, 2009.
A very ample and exhaustive compendium of subjects useful in the physics and chemistry of materials.