FALL 2005
Instructor:
Dr. Branislav
K. Nikolic
Contact: Email:
bnikolic@physics.udel.edu Phone: (302)
831-2943 Fax: (302) 831-1637.
Class
mailing list: PHYS624-010-05F@udel.edu
Instructor
Information: I am a condensed matter theorist, currently
focused on spintronics, mesoscopic physics, quantum chaos, and quantum
information science. See the home page of Quantum
Transport Theory Group or of my Teaching
for more information.
Course
Prerequisites: Familiarity with single-particle Quantum
Mechanics and Statistical Mechanics of non-interacting bosons and
fermions.
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Course
Topics: |
Crystal
Structure |
Chemical
bonding, Crystal lattices and symmetry groups, Real space
vs. Reciprocal space, Fourier analysis, Crystal X-Ray diffraction |
Fermi
liquid |
Free
electron gas, Particles and holes, Adiabatic mapping to Landau
quasiparticles |
Band
Structure of Solids |
Metals,
Fermi surface, Density functional theory, Insulators, Semiconductors,
Doping, Examples: Graphite and Carbon nanotubes |
Lattice
Vibrations |
Normal
modes, Phonons, Specific Heat, Thermal Conductivity, Quantum
theory of neutron scattering |
Phase
Transitions and Many-Body Phenomena |
Broken
symmetries and
classifications of phases, Classical vs. Quantum phase transitions,
Mermin-Wagner theorem, Mott and Anderson insulators |
Classical
and Quantum Transport |
Dynamics
of Bloch electrons, Bloch-Boltzmann semiclassical transport
theory, Magnetotransport and the Hall Effect, Quantum transport
in nanostructures |
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Lectures:
ThTr 3:30PM-4:45PM in 204
Gore Hall
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Place |
Time |
Date |
Computer
Lab: |
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Office
hours: Wednesday 2:00PM-4:00PM in 234 Sharp Lab , or by
appointment (check my schedule
and then send me an email).
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Classes
start on Tuesday, August 30 and end on Wednesday December 7.
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Breaks:
September 5, October 28, Thanksgiving: November 23 - November
27; October 4-October 7, Instructor's travel
schedule.
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Exams:
Final exam is on Friday, December 9, 3:30PM-5:30PM.
This course is a mix of homework problems and Research projects:
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Homeworks:
There will be approximately one homework assignment
per week, assigned on Thursday and due on Thursday the following
week. As a rule, late assignments will not be accepted without
the prior consent of the instructor. You may collaborate with
others on the problems, but you must make a note of your collaborators
(just as if you were writing a scientific paper). Noting your
collaborators does not in any way detract from your grade. However,
each problem set must be written individually-do not simply
copy your collaborator's solutions verbatim (this will be considered
a form of plagiarism). Please have mercy on your grader and
make your solutions neat, concise, and intelligible. Solutions
which are seriously lacking in any of these categories will
be marked down, even if they are ostensibly "correct.''
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Research
Projects: Instead of midterm exam, a Projects
will be assigned, on the Research
Project section of the course Web site, in the middle of
the semester. It will involve usage of numerical tools (i.e.,
programming in low-level, such as Fortran or C, or high-level,
such as Mathematica, languages). The final
Report (written in the form emulating a scientific paper - see
guidelines for more information)
is due two weeks after the project is assigned, at midnight.
The Report should be submitted by email.

Although
this is a bit advanced course, a conventional letter grade
will be assigned at the end of the semester. Your final grade is
determined using the following approximate formula: homeworks contribute
40%, midterm Project 20% and the Final exam 40% to your grade. Here
is a guideline for the final grades, as a percentage of the total
number of points (scaled as above): 85-100, some type of A; 65-84,
some type of B; 65 and below, some type of C. These numbers may
be lowered, depending upon numerous factors, but will not be raised
(i.e., if you have an 80 average you are assured of at least an
A-). The course grades are not curved.
Main
Textbook |
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Supplementary Material |
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