Undergraduate Course: Condensed Matter Physics (PHYS10028)

Course Outline
School	School of Physics and Astronomy	College	College of Science and Engineering
Course type	Standard	Availability	Available to all students
Credit level (Normal year taken)	SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate)	Credits	10
Home subject area	Undergraduate (School of Physics and Astronomy)	Other subject area	None
Course website	None	Taught in Gaelic?	No
Course description	The course covers three main topics: Structure and bonding of solids, Electrons in Solids and magnetism in condensed matter. The aim is to give a firm grounding in these core concepts, and the motivation is to provide a basic understanding of the electrical, optical, thermal and mechanical properties of condensed matter. Given the enormous diversity of condensed systems, the emphasis is on a qualitative understanding of the key ideas.

Entry Requirements
Pre-requisites	Students MUST have passed: Diffraction Physics (PHYS09047)	Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations		Other requirements	At least 80 credit points accrued in courses of SCQF Level 9 or 10 drawn from Schedule Q.
Additional Costs	None

Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisites	None
Displayed in Visiting Students Prospectus?	Yes

Course Delivery Information

Delivery period: 2010/11 Semester 1, Available to all students (SV1)						WebCT enabled: Yes		Quota: None
Location	Activity	Description	Weeks	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
King's Buildings	Lecture		1-11	09:00 - 09:50
King's Buildings	Lecture		1-11				09:00 - 09:50
King's Buildings	Tutorial		2-11		16:10 - 17:00
First Class	Week 1, Monday, 09:00 - 09:50, Zone: King's Buildings. JCMB
Exam Information
Exam Diet	Paper Name		Hours:Minutes	Stationery Requirements		Comments
Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May)			2:00	12 sides

Delivery period: 2010/11 Semester 1, Part-year visiting students only (VV1)						WebCT enabled: No		Quota: None
Location	Activity	Description	Weeks	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
King's Buildings	Lecture		1-11	09:00 - 09:50
King's Buildings	Lecture		1-11				09:00 - 09:50
King's Buildings	Tutorial		2-11		16:10 - 17:00
First Class	Week 1, Monday, 09:00 - 09:50, Zone: King's Buildings. JCMB
Exam Information
Exam Diet	Paper Name		Hours:Minutes	Stationery Requirements		Comments
Main Exam Diet S1 (December)			2:00	12 sides

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course it is intended that a student will be able to: 1)Demonstrate an understanding of the crystal lattice and how the main lattice types are described; 2)Appreciate the different bonding types in solids 3)State the eigenstates of the free electron gas, sketch the free electron band structure, describe the occupation of the electronic states in 1, 2 and 3D for T=0 and T>0, and derive a quantitative equation of the electronic contribution to the heat capacity; 4)Appreciate electronic band structure of metals and be able to apply the relevant theory to simple metals. 5)explain the response of free and Bloch electrons to an external force and appreciate the utility of the hole and effective mass concepts; 6)discuss the mechanisms for electrical conduction in metals and semiconductors and derive the law of mass action in semiconductors. Qualitative describe a p-n junction and a transistor. 7)demonstrate a grasp of the orders of magnitude of the central quantities and develop confidence with "intuitive" estimates.

Assessment Information
Degree Examination, 100% Visiting Student Variant Assessment Degree Examination, 100%

Special Arrangements
None

Contacts
Course organiser	Dr Robin Perry Tel: (0131 6)50 5824 Email: Robin.Perry@ed.ac.uk	Course secretary	Miss Jennifer Wood Tel: (0131 6)50 7218 Email: J.Wood@ed.ac.uk