Advanced Condensed Matter Physics

Description:
This text includes coverage of important topics that are not commonly featured in other textbooks on condensed matter physics; these include surfaces, the quantum Hall effect and superfluidity. The author avoids complex formalism, such as Green's functions, which can obscure the underlying physics, and instead emphasizes fundamental physical reasoning. This text is intended for classroom use, so it features plenty of references and extensive problems for solution based on the author's many years of teaching in the Physics Department at the University of Michigan. This textbook is ideal for physics graduates as well as students in chemistry and engineering; it can equally serve as a reference for research students in condensed matter physics. Engineering students in particular, will find the treatment of the fundamentals of semiconductor devices and the optics of solids of particular interest.

Review:
'An experienced researcher in several condensed matter subfields, Sander based [this] book on his lecture notes for a course he taught at the University of Michigan. ... Overall, the book presents the appropriate topics for a graduate-level course in condensed matter physics.' Physics Today

Table of Contents:
Preface; 1. The nature of condensed matter; 2. Order and disorder; 3. Crystals, scattering, and correlations; 4. Surfaces and crystal growth; 5. Classical and quantum waves; 6. The non-interacting electron model; 7. Dynamics of non-interacting electrons; 8. Dielectric and optical properties; 9. Electron interactions; 10. Superfluidity and superconductivity; References; Index.

Author Biography:
Leonard M. Sander is Professor of Physics at the University of Michigan. His research interests are in theoretical condensed matter physics and non-equilibrium statistical physics, especially the study of growth patterns.