PH30028: Condensed matter physics 2
 Academic Year: | 2019/0 |
| Owning Department/School: | Department of Physics |
| Credits: | 6 [equivalent to 12 CATS credits] |
| Notional Study Hours: | 120 |
| Level: | Honours (FHEQ level 6) |
| Period: |
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| Assessment Summary:
| EX 100% |
| Assessment Detail: |
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| Supplementary Assessment: |
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| Requisites: | Before taking this module you must ( take PH20017 OR take PH20063 ) AND ( take PH20020 OR take MA20223 OR take PH20107 ) 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 (9 hours): Clean and real surfaces, UHV. Surface energy; nearest neighbour bond model and tight-binding model. Surface nets and unit meshes, reconstructions, adsorbates, the work function. Auger, UV and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, ARPES. Reciprocal nets and diffraction. LEED, tunnelling and introduction to scanning probe microscopy techniques. Soft condensed matter (10 hours): Introduction and overview: Characteristic features, sedimentation, Brownian motion and random walks. Colloids: Diffusion, the Stokes-Einstein relation. Interacting colloid particles: phase behaviour, crystals and glasses. Polymers: Chemical structure, models for the conformations of polymers - freely-jointed chain, freely-rotating chain, excluded volume effects. Concentrated polymer solutions. Surfactants: Chemical structure and self-assembled structures. Glass: Glass forming systems, relaxation time and viscosity, simple models of the glass transition. |
| Programme availability: |
PH30028 is Compulsory on the following programmes:Programmes in Natural Sciences
PH30028 is Optional on the following programmes:Department of Mathematical Sciences
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