Syllabus
1. Structure of materials Structure of crystalline materials, crystal lattices, spatial groups of symmetry. Material databases. Point defects. Amorphous materials (liquid crystals, glass, etc.). Dislocation. Alloys.
2. Introduction to quantum theory of solids Electron in periodic potential, translational symmetry and Bloch theorem, plane waves, reciprocal lattice, Brillouin zone, density of states and band structure, Fermi energy and surface
3. Methods of energy calculations and material properties Electron density functional theory, pseudopotentials and basis sets. Hubbard model for the description of strongly correlated electrons. Tight-Binding method. Empirical interatomic potentials and machine learning potentials.
4. Basic properties and characterization of materials Lattice oscillations (phonons, lattice stability, phase transitions, thermal capacity), optical and transport properties (conductivity, dielectric function, excitons, plasmons), magnetic properties (Ising model, ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism, critical behavior, magnons)
5. Application of materials and methodological specifics of individual applications. Heterogeneous catalysis. Adsorption. Photocells. Batteries. Spintronics. etc.
Annotation
The lecture introduces students to the basic concepts, models and methods of studying the structure and properties of materials, with an emphasis on atomistic representation of materials combined with the description of electrons at quantum-mechanical level. The course will also give examples of relevant applications of materials, with a mention of a more advanced computational methods. The course should enable students to understand a wide range of publications in the field of solid state physics.
In the academic year 2022/2023 the subject will be held primarily in the form of selfstudy combined with the regular consultations.