Announcing Physics 6806: Condensed Matter Physics -- Spring 2022

[Randeria, Mohit]

Dear all,

I will be teaching Physics 6806: Condensed Matter Physics next semester (Spring 2022).

My goal in this class is to introduce students to the broad field of condensed matter physics and quantum materials. The course will be at the advanced undergraduate level for Physics and Engineering Physics majors. It may also be of interest to advanced undergraduate or graduate students in other areas of science and engineering and to beginning graduate students in physics. I will describe both theoretical ideas and experiments with an emphasis on physical understanding rather than on mathematical rigor. I hope to communicate to the students the dual nature of this field of research, which on the one hand has led to fundamental ideas of broken symmetry, renormalization group and topological states of matter and, on the other, forms the foundation of modern semiconductor technology with the promise of new platforms for quantum computation and information processing.

Pre-requisites: Quantum Mechanics. Knowledge of Electromagnetism and Statistical Mechanics would be very useful; basic ideas will be reviewed in class as appropriate.

Textbook: “The Oxford Solid State Basics” by Steven H. Simon (Oxford University Press, 2013).

ISBN-10: 0199680779;  ISBN-13: 978-0199680771. A paperback edition is available.

Syllabus:
1. Introduction to condensed matter physics and quantum materials (1 lecture)
2. Simple ideas of solid-state physics (~4 lectures)
    • Specific heat of insulators and conductors
    • Drude model of metallic conductivity
    • Fermi-Dirac statistics
3. Structure of Materials: Periodic Table, Chemical Bonding (~2 lectures)
4. One-dimensional Models of Solids (~3 lectures)
5. Crystal structure: lattices and k-space (~3 lectures)
6. Probing the structure of crystals: Neutron and X-ray diffraction (~3 lectures)
7. Electrons in Crystals (~4 lectures)
    a. Bloch’s theorem
    b. Metals and Fermi surfaces
    c. Insulators and semiconductors
8. Magnetism (~3 lectures)
9. Superconductivity (~3 lectures)
10. Topological States: quantum Hall effect (~2 lectures)

Classes: Caldwell Lab 109, Mondays and Wednesdays, 3:00PM - 5:05PM

Grading:   Grades will be based on home-works, a mid-term exam, and a final exam.

This is a 4-credit-hour course. According to OSU policy, students should expect around 8 hours of homework (including reading and assignment preparation), in addition to the 4 hours per week in class.

Please contact me (randeria.1 at osu.edu) if you have any questions.

Thanks,
Mohit Randeria
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