Last Update: 12/12/07

Link to Syllabus (reading assignments, topics, lecture notes, homework)

Info This Week

• 12/12  Thanks for a fun quarter.  The solutions to the final are now posted.  The finals will be graded over the next couple of days.  Grades should be posted by Monday.  Students will get an email when they are available.  See you in Stat Mech in the spring.
  
• 12/07  You may bring a calculator and one page of notes to the final exam, which is Wednesday, Dec. 12 at 10:30 am in A110. 
  
• 12/07  Prof. Olmstead will be in her office 9:30-2:30 Friday 12/7 and Tues 12/11 (except for a lunch break), and you may stop by with questions.  She will not be available for questions on Monday.
  
• 11/29  The final week of the quarter we'll be covering aspects of semiconductor nanostructures and band-gap engineering.  Powerpoint lecture notes will be posted so you can have access to the complex figures that aren't in the book.  Two good references are the Nobel Prize lectures of Kroemer and Alferov, published in the Review of Modern Physics.
• "Nobel Lecture: Quasielectric fields and band offsets: teaching electrons new tricks," Herbert Kroemer, Review of Modern Physics 73, 783-793 (2001).  Link to journal via UW subscription, http://link.aps.org/abstract/RMP/v73/p783 
  
• "Nobel Lecture: The double heterostructure concept and its applications in physics, electronics, and technology," Zhores Alferov, Review of Modern Physics 73, 767-782 (2001).  Link to journal via UW subscription, http://link.aps.org/abstract/RMP/v73/p767
• 11/20  A visiting grad student from MIT is giving a presentation at 4 pm today on "Physics Grad School 101:  MIT Secrets Revealed"
  
• 11/16  Please vote on the topics for the last few lectures of the quarter.  The survey link is here. 
  
• 11/08  The Chapter 7 HW includes one extra problem that is not due until HW 7 -- it builds on our work this week, but surface states won't be on the midterm.  The midterm on Nov. 20 will thus cover through homework set 6, and ISSP chapter 7, with emphasis on material covered since the last midterm (i.e., chapters 4, 5, 6, 7).  Concepts like diffraction, basis, and Brillouin zone, however, are clearly relevant for the later chapters.
  
• 11/05  The Chapter 6 homework is due Thursday, Nov. 8 at 5 pm (not Nov 18 as originally mistyped).
  
• 10/29  Two courses you might consider for winter quarter are:  Physics 248, a one credit intro to current physics research (emphasis on what is happening in Seattle), and Chem Eng 554, an introduction to Nanoscience through the point of view of contact mechanics and rheology.
  
• 10/23  Due to popular demand, HW 3 is due on Friday at 5 instead of Thursday.  Check your email for information about typos in the book.
  
• 10/22  This week's HW is again short and due Thursday at 5.
  
• 10/16  You may bring one page of notes to the midterm exam.  You may also bring a calculator, although leaving answers in closed form (e.g. cos(dimensionless number)) or to a single significant figure is OK.
  
• 10/10  Information on the midterm is here.  The first problem set solution and the second problem set problems are also posted.
  
• 10/10  The AVS meeting is downtown Oct 14-19.  The equipment show is open to the public, and there are lots of great talks related to solid state physics.  For more information, see http://www2.avs.org/symposium/seattle/welcome.html
  
• 10/10  The 2007 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was also awarded for research related to this class, namely gas-surface interactions.  Gerhard Ertl played a major role in establishing the role of surface science techniques in understanding heterogeneous catalysis and other chemical reactions on surfaces.  See http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2007/index.html
  
• 10/9  The 2007 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded today for a discovery in solid state physics.  Peter Gruenberg and Albert Fert independently discovered the Giant Magnetoresistance Effect in 1988.  Your text barely covers the material (see problem 8 in Chapter 12, p. 359).  For information, see http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2007
  
• 10/9  Just a reminder that your first HW set is due today at 5 pm in Prof. Olmstead's mailbox in the main office.
  
• 9/26    Lecture notes, homework solutions, etc., will be posted in a passworded file on the web.  The login information will be handed out in class and emailed to registered students on Thursday.
  
• 9/26    The results of the enrollment survey are posted here (for 23/29 responding).  Password required.
  
• 9/20    The First Day Handout and Tentative Lecture Schedule are now posted.
• 9/20    Please fill out this SURVEY if you plan to attend this class for either credit or audit.

General Information

• Physics 423 is appropriate for senior physics students as well as graduate students in physics, chemistry, materials science or electrical engineering who are interested in the material.
• This course is an elective in the Nanotechnology Ph.D. program, and as such the examples will be taken primarily from systems relevant for nanotechnology.
• Physics graduate students planning on taking the Theory of Solid State course in W07/Sp08 should take or audit Physics 423 this fall if they have not already had an equivalent course.

Homework

Time

• Tuesday-Thursday: 9:30-10:50 am
• Autumn Quarter 2007

Place

• Room PAA-A110   Physics-Astronomy Building
• Department of Physics, University of Washington

Instructor

 

Prof. Marjorie A. Olmstead	Office hours: Tuesday-Thursday 11:00 - 11:30 and By Appointment
Physics	Physics-Astronomy Bldg. B-433 (Office hour overflow in nearby CME lounge)
685-3031	e-mail: olmstd@u.washington.edu
T.A.  Kregg Philpott	Office hour: TBA and By Appointment
Physics	B249 Physics-Astronomy Bldg.
phone:  685-7421	e-mail:  kreggp@u.washington.edu

Text

• Introduction to Solid State Physics

... by Charles Kittel (8th Edition, Wiley, 2005)
• Info on the text may be obtained from Wiley
• We will cover the first half of this text plus selected chapters from the second half.

Course Goals

• This course is an experimentalist's view of solid state theory and properties. It includes the basic physics behind measured properties, as well as behind the measurements themselves.
• This course will also help consolidate knowledge obtained in undergraduate courses on quantum mechanics, statistical mechanics, fourier analysis, classical mechanics and electrodynamics
• Whenever appropriate, examples relevant to nanotechnology will be included.

Course Topics

Grading

• 25% = Homework (about 8 assignments)
• 25% = Midterm 1
• 25% = Midterm 2
  
• 50% = Final Exam
• the lowest grade of the two midterms or half the final will be dropped to bring the total to 100%
  

Suggested Prerequisites

• Physics 324 (Quantum Mechanics) and Physics 321-2 (Electricity and Magnetism)
• Physics 328 (Statistical Mechanics) is useful, but not required.
• There will be extensive use of Fourier analysis and complex numbers.
• For non-physicists:  Physical Chemistry can substitute for QM and E&M.  The basic requirement is a working knowledge of Schroedinger's equation.

Other Links

• First Day Handout: Information on text, grading, etc.
• Lecture and Homework Schedule
• American Physical Society Condensed Matter Physics Division
• American Physical Society Materials Physics Division
• APS Careers in Physics page
• Physics Graduate School Info: (www.gradschoolshopper.com)
  
• National Nanotechnology Initiative (www.nano.gov)
  

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