Quantum Theory of Materials

Lieu
ENS-PSL
Automne - Hiver
Niveau Master 1 3 ECTS - En anglais
Master 1
Enseignant(s) Nicolas BERGEAL
Contact

Nicolas Bergeal

nicolas.bergeal@espci.fr


Mame Diallo

Gestionnaire du Master Quantum Engineering

mame.diallo@phys.ens.fr


Secrétariat de l’enseignement 

enseignement@phys.ens.fr


 

Nicolas Bergeal & Arthur Marguerite

Syllabus

1. Specific heat of solids

  • Classical specific heat, Dulong and Petit law, Boltzmann explanation
  • Einstein’s model of the specific heat, canonical partition function, quantum harmonic oscillator
  • Debye’s model of the specific heat, collective vibration of atoms, towards phonon modes

2. Cristal structure of solids

  •  Lattices and unit cells, Bravais lattices
  •  Reciprocal lattice, Brillouin zone

3. Phonons in solids

  • Vibration of the 1D mono atomic chains, comparison with Debye model 
  • 1D diatomic chain, optical and acoustic modes
  • Phonons

4. Free electrons and quantum transport

  •  Drude model, Hall effect, thermal transport
  • Sommerfeld model, Fermi-Dirac statistics, electrons heat capacity
  • Quantum transport, mesoscopic scales, coherent transport, ballistic transport

5. Electrons in solids

  •  Nearly free electrons models, perturbative approach, band representation, energy gap
  •  Bloch’s theorem, electron wave function in a solid
  • Tight-binding model, 1D chain, band structure, Graphene band structure (TD)

6. Semiconductors and devices

  •  Band structure, electrons and holes
  •  Statistical mechanics of semiconductors, intrinsic and extrinsic doping, law of action mass 
  • Semiconductor devices, p-n junction, solar cell
Prerequisites

None

Evaluation

Written (2 h)