Prerequisites

It is expected that students will have taken the Part II option course Quantum Condensed Matter Physics.  However, the course includes an introductory section that discusses and refreshes all solid state concepts needed.  It is therefore possible to take the course without having taken Quantum Condensed Matter Physics.

Synopsis

• The independent-electron approximation

–Crystalline systems

–Independent electron theory.

• Electron-electron interactions

–Hartree-Fock theory, Jellium, phase diagram of the electron system.

–Density functional theory, Kohn-Sham, local density approximation, molecular simulation.

–Linear response theory, screening in an electron gas, correlation functions.

–Quasiparticles, Landau’s Fermi liquid theory, second quantisation for Fermions, Jellium.

• Magnetism:

–The Hubbard and Heisenberg models, exchange mechanisms and applications. 

• Electron-photon interactions

–Weak electron-photon interactions, Kramers-Krönig relations, optical absorption in semiconductors.

–Strong electron-photon interactions, excitons in inorganic and organic semiconductors, Bose-Einstein condensation in excitonic systems.

• Electron-phonon interactions

–Phonons in crystals, electron phonon interactions, polarons. 

–Boltzmann semiclassical transport theory.

–Effective electron-electron interactions through the exchange of phonons

• Quantum Transport

-Landauer formalism, electronic transport in 1D, 0D and 2D. 

• Superconductivity

–Phenomenology, Cooper pairs, BCS theory of superconductivity, High-Tc superconductivity. 

BOOKS

Basic general:

Solid State Physics, Ashcroft & Mermin (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1976)

Introduction to Solid State Physics, Kittel (Wiley, 7th edition 1996)

Advanced general:

Solid State Physics, Grosso, Parravicini, (Academic Press, 2000)

A quantum approach to Condensed Matter Physics, Taylor & Heinonen (Cambridge 2002)

Principles of condensed matter physics, Chaikin &Lubensky (Cambridge 1995)

Solid State Physics Phillips (Cambridge University Press 2012)

Specialized subjects:

Quantum Theory of the Electron Liquid, Vignale (Cambridge 2005)

Quantum Theory of Many-Particle Systems, Fetter & Walecka (Dover 2003)

Magnetism in Condensed Matter, Blundell (Oxford 2001)

Superconductivity, Superfluids and Condensates, Annett (Oxford 2004)

Fundamentals of Semiconductors, Yu & Cardona (Springer, 1996)

Optical Properties of Solids, Fox (Oxford 2005)