Spring 2008
Announcements:
- I will be keeping an email list that I will use to send out
announcements, hw hints, etc.
If you didn't write down your email address on the sign up
sheet on the first day of class,
send me (Jesse) an email.
- 2/7/08:
Due to the mix-up of scheduling on the first discussion, I am available to help with homework and questions via email (as usual), as well as from 4-5 pm on Tuesday February 12th in my office, 542 Birge.
- 2/11/08:
The semester is not off to a very good start. I am currently at home sick, and while I could come in from 4-5pm -- I don't think anyone wants what I have. I will be accepting homework until Thursday at 5pm. I'll be holding office hours on Thursday from 3-4pm.
- 2/25/08:
Discussion for Homework #2 will be this Wednesday, and the homework is due this coming Thursday (2/28). Feel free to email questions as well.
- 3/17/08:
Discussion section on 3/19 will cover homework #3. Lack of discussion during the previous week due to March meeting will push back the due date until Thursday, 3/20 on HW#3. I will be open for office hours all day Tues (except 2-4) and Wednesday as well.
- 3/31/08:
Please email me (Prof. Cohen) your paper topic by April 15. If you have several and can't make up your mind, list them and I'll rank them. My email address is mlcohen@berkeley.edu
- 4/9/08:
There will be no discussion section today. Solutions to HW#3 will be posted on Friday. Please email me (Jesse) with any questions regarding the homeworks. I will hold
a makeup discussion section next week.
- 4/10/08:
Overview class on different photovoltaic technologies.
- 4/25/08:
The semester is nearly over, and the deadlines for the paper and final homework are quickly approaching. Please remember that in order to get grades in on time, the final assignments
must be turned in when they are due. This is mandatory.
- 5/6/08 5:00PM:
If you have not turned in your paper yet.....do it soon. I will be picking the rest of them up later tonight from the box outside of 542 Birge. It is due NOW.
Homework:
To facilitate grading, please turn in homework by 6 pm on the day it is due.
If you need more time, let Jesse know in advance of the due date.
The homework box is outside 542 Birge.
- Homework 1 Due 2/12/08 (extended to 2/14/08).
- Homework 1 solutions in PDF.
- Homework 2 Due 2/28/08.
- Homework 2 solutions in PDF.
- Homework 3 Due 3/20/08.
- Homework 3 solutions in PDF.
- Homework 4 Due 4/15/08.
Hint: Look in Schrieffer pg.100 for help approximating a number for the el-ph matrix element on problem 4(c)
- Homework 4 solutions in PDF.
- Homework 5 Due 5/01/08.
Discussions:
Discussions are to help you with homework. If there is no homework due soon,
I won't hold discussion, but you are of course free to come to office hours,
which will be every week (unless otherwise noted). Check here for
the discussion topic.
**Discussion has been changed, to coincide with the syllabus, as well
as to facilitate attendance to 2-3 on Wednesday in 4 Evans. Please email me (Jesse)
if you have a conflict.**
- Date: Thursday, February 7; Homework 1.
- Date: Wednesday, February 27; Homework 2.
- Date: Wednesday, March 5; Homework 2 (continued).
- Date: Wednesday, March 19; Homework 3.
Instructor: Marvin L. Cohen
Office: 539 Birge Hall
Office Hours: Tu and Th before class or by appointment, 539 Birge
e-mail: mlcohen@berkeley.edu
Lectures: TT 11-12:30, 385 Le Conte
Reader: Jesse Noffsinger
Office: 542 Birge Hall
Office Hour: Monday 1:30-2:30 pm, or by appt
Discussion: Wednesday 2-3 pm, 4 Evans
e-mail: jnoffsinger@civet.berkeley.edu
Course content (PDF format).
Prerequisites: Physics 240A
Requirements: Five or six problem sets (70% of grade) and one paper on an approved subject.
Suggested Texts:
Undergraduate Level:
Kittel, Introduction to Solid State Physics
Ashcroft and Mermin, Solid State Physics
Intermediate Level:
Ziman, Principles of the Theory of Solids
Graduate Level:
Cohen and Chelikowsky, Electronic Structure and Optical Properties of Semiconductors
Kittel, Quantum Theory of Solids
Madelung, Introduction to Solid State Theory
Schrieffer, Theory of Superconductivity
Other texts and references will be suggested as different subjects are introduced. Reference texts are also on reserve
in the Physics Library.
Approximate Outline of 240B:
Transport theory, Fermi surface measurements, Hall effects, electron-phonon interactions, polarons,
superconductivity-experimental facts and fundamentals, BCS theory and beyond, superconducting mechanisms,
many-body problem, Green's functions and Feynman diagrams, electron gas, Nambu-Gor'kov-Eliasberg theory
of superconductivity, and the current theories of superconductivity. Other miscellaneous topics will be
discussed.
Links: