Department of Physics, Unit Catalogue 2009/10 |
PH30028: Condensed matter physics 2 |
 Credits:
| 6 |
| Level:
| Honours |
| Period: | Semester 1 |
| Assessment:
| EX 100% |
| Supplementary Assessment: | Like-for-like reassessment (where allowed by programme regulations) |
| Requisites:
| Before taking this unit you must (take PH20017 or take PH20063) and take PH20019 and take PH20020 and (take PH20029 or take PH20067) |
| Description: | Aims: The aims of this unit are to introduce areas of condensed matter physics that extend beyond the conventional domain of regular, infinite, crystalline solids. Learning Outcomes: After taking this unit the student should be able to: * relate the electronic, optical and mechanical properties of real crystals to their defects; * make quantitative estimates of the parameters that govern the behaviour of real solids; * describe the structure and properties of amorphous solids; * describe, compare and contrast experimental probes of solid surfaces; * describe the structure, phase behaviour, and diffusive properties of polymers, colloids and liquid crystals; * describe the principal structural and relaxational properties of solid, liquid, and soft matter glasses in terms of simple models. Skills: Numeracy T/F A, Problem Solving T/F A. Content: Real solids (3 hours): Defects in crystals; point defects and dislocations in crystals. Effect on electronic, optical and mechanical properties. Point defects in thermal equilibrium. Self diffusion. Ionic conductivity. Colour centres. Surface physics (6 hours): Clean and real surfaces, UHV, epitaxial growth. Surface energy; nearest neighbour bond model. Surface nets and unit meshes, reconstructions, adsorbates, the work function. Auger, UV and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Reciprocal nets and diffraction. LEED, the scanning tunnelling and atomic force microscopes. Introduction to amorphous solids (3 hours): Topological disorder. Determination of glass structure. Short range order, vibrational states and thermal conductivity of glasses. Soft condensed matter (10 hours): Polymers; chemical structure. Models for the conformations of polymers; the random walk, large N limit, freely jointed chains, Gaussian chains. Polymer solutions and melts. Colloids; colloid structure, Brownian motion, sedimentation. Interacting colloid particles, phase behaviour, crystals and glasses. Liquid Crystals; phase behaviour, optical properties. Soft matter glasses; phenomenology, simple models of the glass transition. |