Syllabus

Course Meeting Times

Lectures: 3 sessions / week, 1 hour / session

Recitations: 2 sessions / week, 1 hour / session

Labs: 3 weeks, 5 sessions / week, 1 hour / session

Prerequisites

3.012 Fundamentals of Materials Science and Engineering

Description

This course offers a description of how the electronic, optical and magnetic properties of materials originate from their electronic and molecular structure and how these properties can be designed for particular applications, for instance in optical fibers, magnetic data storage, solar cells, transistors and other devices. It also offers experimental exploration of the electronic, optical and magnetic properties of materials, including hands-on experimentation using spectroscopy, resistivity, impedance and magnetometry measurements, behavior of light in waveguides, and other characterization methods, as well as investigation of structure-property relationships through practical materials examples.

Objectives and Approach

There is an emphasis in lectures on fundamental physical models in order to understand and predict electrical, optical and magnetic properties using real world examples and applications, as well as EOM property measurements using state-of-the-art tools and engineering materials properties during lab sessions.

Course Topics

• Hamiltonian mechanics with application to normal vibrations in crystals
• Phonons: Dispersion relations, normal modes
• Introduction to quantum mechanics: Schrödinger's equation
• Applications to quantum dots, tunneling devices
• Localized vs. delocalized states: From the free electron to the atom
• Electronic states in crystals: DOS, bandgaps, interpretation of band diagrams
• Fermions, symmetrization and Pauli's exclusion principle: Electrons in bands and the classification of solids
• "Free electron gas" description of carriers
• The chemical potential: Fermi level, statistics of electron distribution
• Electronic structure of semiconductors: Intrinsic and extrinsic
• Semiconductor devices: p-n junctions under illumination and applied voltage
• Maxwell's equations: Electromagnetic waves in materials
• Indices of refraction: Reflection and transmission
• Periodic optical materials: Photonic bands and bandgaps
• Magnetization in materials: Para-, ferro-, anti-ferro- and ferrimagnets
• Magnetic domains

Grading

Calendar