Overview

This book provides an introduction to band theory and the electronic properties of materials at a level suitable for final-year undergraduates or first-year graduate students. It sets out to provide the vocabulary and quantum-mechanical training necessary to understand the electronic, optical and structural properties of the materials met in science and technology and describes some of the experimental techniques which are used to study band structure today. In order to leave space for recent developments, the Drude model and the introduction of quantum statistics are treated synoptically. However, Bloch's theorem and two tractable limits, a very weak periodic potential and the tight-binding model, are developed rigorously and in three dimensions. Having introduced the ideas of bands, effective masses and holes, semiconductor and metals are treated in some detail, along with the newer ideas of artificial structures such as super-lattices and quantum wells, layered organic substances and oxides. Some recent `hot topics' in research are covered, e.g. the fractional Quantum Hall Effect and nano-devices, which can be understood using the techniques developed in the book. In illustrating examples of e.g. the de Haas-van Alphen effect, the book focuses on recent experimental data, showing that the field is a vibrant and exciting one. References to many recent review articles are provided, so that the student can conduct research into a chosen topic at a deeper level. Several appendices treating topics such as phonons and crystal structure make the book a self-contained introduction to the fundamentals of band theory and electronic properties in condensed matter physics today.

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9780198506447

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Reviews

Excellent as an easily navigable reference text; a sort of skeletal Kittell, but with more contemporary illustrative material ... first-time lecture course writers could find it an excellent way of orientating themselves in the subject ... likely to endure as a useful reference source for researchers for some years. Contemporary Physics

Author Information

Dr John Singleton, Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU, Tel: 01865 272236, Fax: 01865 272400, Email: j.singleton1@physics.ox.ac.uk. Leave of absence Aug 2000- Aug 2001: National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Mail Stop E536, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA, Tel: +1 505 665 3857, Fax: +1 505 665 4311, Email: jsingle@lanl.gov

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