CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS I
Academic year and teacher
If you can't find the course description that you're looking for in the above list,
please see the following instructions >>
- Versione italiana
- Academic year
- 2022/2023
- Teacher
- LUCIA DEL BIANCO
- Credits
- 6
- Didactic period
- Primo Semestre
- SSD
- FIS/03
Training objectives
- The course deals with the main physical phenomena that laid the foundation for the passage from Classical to Quantum Physics, addressing the concepts of thermal radiation, interaction of radiation with matter, wave-particle duality and the description of the first atomic models. Moreover, the course presents the formalism of classical and quantum statistics with applications to the physics of solids. Finally, basic concepts for the description of crystalline solids are presented.
At the end of the course, the student will have acquired knowledge on the main theories and experiments that determined the beginning of Modern Physics (in particular, Planck's theory for the black-body radiation, the photoelectric effect, the Compton effect, the experiment by Davisson Germer, De Broglie's theory of matter waves, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle) and on the first atomic models (Thomson, Rutherford, Bohr). He/she will also have acquired knowledge of statistical mechanics, on the differences between classical and quantum statistical laws and on how these have been used in the description of important physical phenomena (Debye model for the specific heat of a crystalline solid, electronic gas, condensation of Bose Einstein). Finally he will have learned basic concepts of crystallography.
The student will have developed the skills necessary to solve calculations and problems on the indicated topics. Prerequisites
- Knowledge of classical Physics is needed
Course programme
- THERMAL RADIATION (6 hours)
Properties of thermal radiation. Black body. Stefan’s law. Wien’s law. Rayleigh-Jeans law. Planck’s theory
INTERACTION OF RADIATION WITH MATTER (6 hours)
Photoelectric effect: Einstein’s quantum theory; the photons. Compton effect. X-ray production. Pair production and pair annihilation. Definition of cross section
QUANTUM PHENOMENOLOGY (10 hours)
de Broglie’s postulate. Davisson and Germer experiment. The wave-particle duality. The uncertainty principle. Atomic models: Thomson’s, Rutherford’s and Bohr’s models. Hints on the Sommerfeld model.
STATISTICAL PHYSICS (20 hours)
Classical and quantum statistics. Distribution laws: Maxwell-Boltzmann, Fermi-Dirac and Bose-Einstein.
Application of classical statistics: the ideal gas. The specific heat of a crystalline solid: law of Dulong and Petit, Einstein model, Debye model. The concept of degeneracy in statistics.
Application of the Fermi-Dirac statistics: the free electron gas; specific heat of the electron gas. Applications of the Bose-Einstein statistics: photon gas; phonons of the one-dimensional lattice. The Bose Einstein condensation.
INTRODUCTION TO SOLID STATE PHYSICS (6 hours)
Bravais lattice. Unite cell. Simple crystal structures. The Wigner-Seitz cell. Lattice planes and Miller indices. X-ray diffraction: Bragg’s law. Didactic methods
- Formal lectures and problem solving sessions.
Learning assessment procedures
- The aim of the exam is to verify whether the student has critically assimilated the topics presented during the lessons, thus achieving the educational objectives of the course, and whether he/she is able to establish links between them.
The exam consists of a written test, aimed at verifying the degree of skill achieved in solving calculations and exercises, followed by an oral test, aimed at verifying the knowledge acquired. The written test consists in solving some problems concerning the program and it is passed with a score of 18/30. During the oral test, the student must expose some items proposed by the teacher. The final mark will be assigned taking into account the results obtained in the two sessions. Reference texts
- 1) R.Eisberg, R.Resnick "Quantum Physics of Atoms, Molecules, Solids, Nuclei and Particles", 2nd Edition, J.Wiley & Sons, 1985
2) Alonso-Finn "Quantum and statistical Physics" vol. 3, Addison-Wesley
3) John D. Mcgervey “Introduction to Modern Physics”
Academic Press, Inc. (chapter 11)
