UE Solid state, electrons and phonons

Degrees incorporating this pedagocial element :


Goal: This solid-state physics class aims at providing the basics theories that allow to understand the properties of materials, and in particular their electronic and vibrational properties.  Why are some solids metallic and other semi-conducting ? Can we calculate their specific heat ? hat is their velocity of sound ? Applications to low-dimensional systems (including graphene and nanobutes) will serve as a bridge to nanosciences.

 - The historic Drude model of conductivity
-  Introducing quantum mechanics: the electron in a box
- Density of states in several dimensions

-Translational properties and Bloch theorem: reducing the complexity

-Reciprocal space and Brillouin zones

-Tight-binding approximation and banc structure

- Examples: graphene, Peierls distorsion, the minimal cuprate, etc…

-Phonons: acoustic and optical modes

 - Introductory chapter of a book on Quantum Mechanics

-Introduction to Solid State Physics, Charles Kittel

- Solid State Physics, Ashcroft and Mermin