53036 Kiinteän olomuodon fysiikka I (10 op)

Aika: Kevät 2012 periodit III-IV

53036 Solid State Physics I (10 ECTS cr)

Dates: Spring 2012 periods III-IV

First lecture: 18.1.2012 Wed 14:15-16:00 at Physicum D106

Lectures: Wed 14-16 and Fri 12-14 at Physicum D106

Exercises: Tue 14-16 Physicum D117

Remember to register in WebOodi

Register also to the moodle-area of the course. It will be used for information, lecture notes, exercises, discussions etc.

Key for registration in moodle will be given in the first lecture, or you can request it from the lecturer beforehand (mikko.o.hakala at helsinki.fi)

Why would I want to take this course?

Quartz crystal; Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com, source:wikipedia

• why some materials are gases, some liquids, and others solid?
• how crystals grow?
• how the structure of a virus can be studied atom by atom?
• why diamond and graphite are so different, even if they both are composed of pure carbon?
• what is common between a pencil and the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics?
• why sound is faster in a solid than in air?
• why some materials are insulators, some metallic, some even superconductors?
• how does a solar cell work?
• how does superconducting levitation work?

Topics and purpose of the course

• Crystal structure
• Crystal dynamics
• Free electrons in metals
• Band structure
• Semiconductors
• Semiconductor devices
• Superconductivity
• Low-dimensional systems
• Experimental techniques
• Theoretical techniques
• Novel materials

Recommended student background

• väh. Materiaalifysiikka I (at least Materials Physics I)
• suos. Kvanttimekaniikka I (pref. Quantum Mechanics I)

Recommended reading, course material

• Hook & Hall, Solid State Physics, 2nd edition (1991), John Wiley & Sons.
• Aschroft & Mermin, Solid State Physics
• Kittel, Introduction to Solid State Physics
• Iback & Lüth, Solid-State Physics