Physics 211a, Fall 2017

Course requirements and grading policy:

1) Attend all lectures (or as many as possible), pay attention at the lectures, ask questions. 10% of grade
2) Homework problems will be assigned ~ once a week, you should solve them and hand them in within a week. 15% of grade
3) One longer homework problem will be assigned around the middle of the quarter, due 3 weeks later. 25% of grade
4) Special topic paper due 9th week, oral presentation of the paper 10th and finals week. 50% of grade

TENTATIVE COURSE SCHEDULE

Week Topics Chapter(s) in Ashcroft-Mermin
0: Sep. 25 Overview Ch. 1 to 34
1: Oct. 2 Drude theory, free electron theory Ch. 1, 2
2: Oct. 9 Crystal structure Ch. 4, 7
3: Oct. 16 Reciprocal lattice` Ch. 5, 6
4: Oct. 23 Electrons in periodic potential Ch. 8
5: Oct. 30 Weak binding, tight binding Ch. 9, 10
6: Nov. 6 Band structures Ch. 11, 15
7: Nov. 13 Electron-electron interactions Ch. 17, 26, 32, 33, 34
8: Nov. 20 Electron dynamics, transport Ch. 12, 13, 16
9: Nov. 27 Phonons Ch. 22, 23, 24, 25
10: Dec. 4 Oral presentations
11: Dec. 11 Final

Holidays: Thu, Nov. 23