This course introduces the student, who chooses the specialization of Materials Science and Engineering, to the fundamentals of solid state physics and condensed matter physics after an examination of the salient features of crystallography. Topics to be covered are: Crystal structures and crystallography (symmetry, periodicity, unit cells, lattices, Fourier expansions, reciprocal lattice, Bloch theorem); The nature of the crystalline bond (molecular, ionic, covalent, metallic bond); Lattice waves (lattice dynamics and vibrations, phonons, lattice specific heat, diffraction by crystal); Electron states (diffraction of valence electrons, energy gaps, the nearly-free electron model, Bloch functions, theory of energy bands, Brillouin zones, the tight-binding method, types of solids: insulators, metals and semiconductors).
