Lecture Notes

This beat-up car certainly does not look nearly as pretty as the "girl's best friend" - the diamond. Under the microscope, however, they both look very similar: both the diamond and the iron are simple crystals: neat periodic arrays of atoms

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• Emergence? New phenomena for macroscopic objects (Group 1; due Jan. 18)

• Review of "Modern Physics" (elementary concepts in quantum mechanics) (Group 3; due Jan 21)

• Atoms as building blocks; inter-atomic forces (Group 4; due Jan. 24)

• Phase transitions: gases, liquids, solids, and more...

• Crystalline solids

• Lattice properties

• Free electron model of metals

• Band theory of solids

• Semiconductors

• Semiconductor Devices

• Superconductivity

• Magnetism

• Beyond solids - soft materials: liquid crystals, polymers, membranes, and more.