Solid-state physics.

MaRDI QIDQ2919556zbMATH OpenFDO

Publication date 4 October 2012

anomalous skin effect Bloch waves chemical bonding Cooper pairs Coulomb blockade crystallography cuprate superconductor cyclotron resonance De Haas-van Alphen effect diamagnetism diffraction elasticity modulus electrical conductivity electronics exciton Fermi surfaces ferromagnetism free electron gas model Hall effect heat capacity heat conductivity hydrogen bond Josephson effect Kramers-Kroning relation Landau theory of phase transitions Lindhard theory London equations low-temperature physics magetic susceptibility magnetism metal-insolator transition nano-systems paramagnetism Peltier effect phonon spectrum plasmon polariton polymer physics quantum-physical Hall effect quantum-physical interference effect Schottky contact semiconductor laser semiconductor physics solar cell solid state physics, supraconductivity spin electronics Subnikov-de Haas effect thermic expansion thermo-magnetic effect thermoforce

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Review text

\noindent Solid state physics is so extensive that it cannot be presented in a single textbook. Thus this work is only aimed to present basic knowledge. It qualifies the reader for further study of problems like supraconductivity, semiconductor physics and electronics, magnetism, spin electronics, nano-systems, crystallography, low-temperature physics, or polymer physics in specialist literature. To limit the contents of the book, the consideration of experimental techniques and technical applications is also marginalised. The textbook bases on the repeatedly revised, extended, and didactically edited script of the solid physics lecture being read since 1996 at the Cologne University and the Munich University of Technology.NEWLINENEWLINE\noindent Chapter 1 of the work introduces the basic terms necessary to describe crystals (mono-crystals or protein crystals with a basis of up to \(10^4\) atoms), and it discusses some important crystal structures (e.g.\ of diamond, graphit, and graphen). Chapter 2 deals with diffraction methods which are used to determine the periodic structure of solids. These help to find out the spatial scales of elementary cells in solid state bodies, the number and structure of the atoms as well as the electron distribution in these cells. Based on diffraction, terms like reciprocal grid and Brillouin zones are introduced. Coherent elastic scattering at inflexible grids as well as the influences of the atomic oscillations in the grids on scattering processes are considered. Discussing some experimental methods of the structure analysis by diffraction, advantages and disadvantages of the use of different wave types are pointed out.NEWLINENEWLINE\noindent Having dealt with structures of solid state bodies, Chapter\ 3 starts with the explanation why such structures form. Here essentially five kinds of chemical bonding are reviewed: Van der Waals bonding between neutral atoms and molecules with inert gas configuration of the electrons (IGCE), ionic bonding between charged particles at IGCE, covalent bonding between neutral atoms with overlapping (non-IGCE) electron envelopes, metallic bonding, where atoms deliver electrons to a common ``sea in which the ions are distributed, and the hydrogen bond which is of importance for organic substances.NEWLINENEWLINE\noindent Chapter 4 considers the elastic properties of solids. Here it is analysed how the properties of solids change under the influence of external forces. The grid is treated as a continuum, the eastic properties of which are described by the elasticity modulus. This is only possible, if the effects of interest occur at scales much larger than the mean atomic distances in the solid. As an example, elastic waves are studied.NEWLINENEWLINE\noindent The influence of the atomic structure of the solid state body on the elastic waves is analysed in Chapter\ 5. In doing so, forces on oscillating atoms are described by a simple adiabatic and harmonic approximation. The concept of quantized grid oscillations and experimental methods to investigate the grid dynamics are introduced. The dynamic properties of grids explained in Chapter\ 5 are of strong importance for the evaluation of specific heats, thermal expansion coefficients and the heat conductivity of insulators, for the electrical conductivity and supraconductivity of metals, the dielectric properies of ionic crystals, as well as the inelastic light- and neutron scattering.NEWLINENEWLINE\noindent Chapter 6 deals with thermal properties of crystals grids. There only phenomena connected to phonons are taken into account. The theory is thus mainly applicable to insulators. In detail, specific heats, thermal expansion and heat conduction are studied.NEWLINENEWLINE\noindent Having discussed up to this point localised electrons in the grid, Chapter\ 7 introduces the free electron model of solid state physics. In the chapter, a quantum-physical model for electrons is developed, which do not interact with the grid, and also not with other electrons. The chapter ends with the analysis of transport properties in low-dimensional electron gases, including the Coulomb blockade of a so-called quantum point (a zero-dimensional electron gas). Although the model discussed in Chapter\ 7 is very simple, some properties of metals, like their specific heat or their transport properties, may be described rather well.NEWLINENEWLINE\noindent On the other hand, the free electron model gives no answer to the question why some solids behave like metals and others like insulators. And there remain some more open questions: How is the number of conducting electrons determined? Why are positive values for the Hall constant and the thermoforce found in experiments? How can we explain optical and magneto-transport properties? To answer these questions, in Chapter\ 8 the model of the free electron gas is extended taking into account the interaction of the electrons with the periodic potential of the ion grid. There two approaches are applied, the approximation of quasi-free electrons and the tight-binding method.NEWLINENEWLINE\noindent Chapter 9 considers the dynamics of crystal electrons under the action of external forces. Therefore the time-dependent Schrödinger equation has to be solved. To simplify the calculations, in Chapter\ 9 a semiclassical method is introduced, where the external forces are semiclassically treated, and the band structures are found by a quantum-physical analysis. The Boltzmann transport equation is applied in Chapter\ 9 to derive expressions for some transport coefficients. Further, the quantum-Hall effect is discussed, and experimental methods to determine Fermi surfaces of metals are presented, which are based on the investigation of the crystal electron dynamics.NEWLINENEWLINE\noindent As the electrical conductivity of semiconductors may be controlled from the outside, their importance in contemporary electronics is enormous. In Chapter\ 10 the definition of the term ``semiconductor is discussed. The different physical behaviour of semiconductors, in comparison to metals, and the transition of the insulator characteristics to that of the semiconductors are explained. In Chapter\ 10, first a classification of the semiconductors is given, and then the basic properties of intrinsic and doped semiconductors are discussed, especially their charge densities and electrical resistivities. Spatially inhomogeneous semiconductors are considered, as well as their applications in electronic devices. Finally, low-dimensional electron gases realized by semiconductor systems are discussed.NEWLINENEWLINE\noindent Chapter 11 deals with the description of the reaction of a solid state body as a whole (and not only of the crystal electrons) towards an external electrical field. Thereby it gets possible to describe the optical properties of solids. The interaction between electrical field and solid state body is described in linear approximation, either macroscopically or micoscopically. One aim of the chapter is to show the relation between both approaches. The chapter points out, that the interaction of solid state bodies with an electrical field may be rather complex. It depends, for instance, on the frequency of the field and on the special properties of the solids.NEWLINENEWLINE\noindent The linear response of solid-state bodies as a whole on on external magnetic fields is discussed in Chapter\ 12. Thereby, for instance, a description of the magnetic susceptibility of solid state bodies is obtained. It is concluded that magnetism is a quantum-physical phenomenon. The chapter distinguishes between magnetism of quasi-bound and quasi-free electrons. The quasi-bound electrons are attached to single atoms of the grid, and the magnetic properties may be described as atomic magnetism using the Boltzmann statistics. Quasi-free electrons may be e.g.\ conduction electrons in metals. To describe their magnetic properties the Fermi-Dirac statistics has to be applied.NEWLINENEWLINE\noindent In supraconductors correlations in the electron subsystem play an important role. Below a certain temperature, these correlations cause a new state of order in the system. Chapter 13 reviews the history of the discovery of supraconductivity and the basic properties of superconductors. Thermodynamic properties of superconductors, phenomenological superconductor models, as well as characteristic properties of type I and type II superconductors are discussed. The microscopic theory of supraconductivity by Bardeen, Cooper and Schrieffen is introduced, which satisfyingly describes supraconductivity in metals. Topics like Josephson effect, critical currents, and flux line mounting, which are of great importance for technical applications, are also included. The chapter ends with the discussion of the main properties of cuprate high-temperature superconductors.NEWLINENEWLINE\noindent The comprehensive work of 982 pages also contains eight useful appendices concerning the quantumphysical grid theory, basics of quantum statistics, Sommerfeld series for integrals containing Fermi functions, the motion of charged particles in electromagnetic fields, the dipole approximation, main thermodynamic potentials, Si units, and physical constants.NEWLINENEWLINE\noindent The present textbook is intended for Bachelor and Master students of physics and materials science. But it may also serve as reference book for physicists working in the field of solid state physics and for specialists of materials science.

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