ID:
500630
Duration (hours):
48
CFU:
6
SSD:
FISICA DELLA MATERIA
Year:
2025
Overview
Date/time interval
Secondo Semestre (02/03/2026 - 05/06/2026)
Syllabus
Course Objectives
a) Knowledge and understanding – The course will allows students to learn concepts and phenomena in advanced solid-state physics, including the effects of correlation, which go beyond the single-particle approximation/mean field and single Slater determinants for manyelectron systems. Students will familiarize with the concepts of screening and of elementary excitations in solids (plasmons, phonons, excitons, polaritons.) and with their phenomenology. Students will be exposed to current research areas and related investigation techniques (computational solid-state physics based on density-functional theory, surface plasmons, topological materials, correlated systems described by the Hubbard mode, etcl), also in view of choosing their research and thesis topics. Some of the course topics are also of interest for theoretical physics. b) Applying knowledge and understanding – The student will be able to appreciate the importance of correlation effects, and to decide on the approaches that are more appropriate for an advanced description of the electronic structure, optical and transport properties in solids. He/she will acquire the capability to employ simple models whenever possible (e.g., the Thomas-Fermi model for screening, the Drude model for the electrodynamics of metals, the relaxation-time approximation for transport), knowing their limitations. He/she will be able to describe various kinds of elementary excitations from the points of view of both theory and phenomenology, and to use the second-quantization formalism for fermionic operators. He/she will be able to perform simple electronic-structure calculations based on DFT for the main classes of materials (metals, semiconductors, insulators.) and to analyze the results in view of the adopted method and approximations. He/she will be able to use software packages in Linux environment, also based on Python. c) Making judgements – The student will be able to orient him/herself in the field of advanced solid-state physics, evaluating the most interesting phenomena and the theoretical approaches that are more appropriate to describe the physical properties of various types of complex solids. He/she will have an overview of very different research areas (computational physics, plasmonics, transport, correlated and topological systems), judging on their interest and importance. d) Communication skills – Students will assimilate the language of advanced solid-state physics, especially regarding the terminology of correlated systems (exchange, correlation, static/dynamic screening.). He/she will be able to describe various topics in physical language, going beyond mathematical derivations or numerical approaches, which are often very complex in this field. e) Learning skills – Students will be introduced to some textbooks and recent reviews, and will be able to study them in autonomy after attending the lectures. Moreover, they will train on reading and summarizing a scientific paper on a topic of active research. The student will be exposed to and will be able to orient among theoretical/computational and/or experimental research topics
Course Prerequisites
The course requires basic notions of quantum physics, electromagnetism,
optics, typically learned in the first three years of physics. Basic notions
of the physics of solids, as given in the course Solid State Physics I are
useful. However, interested students from other areas (e.g., theoretical
physics, physics of quantum technologies) may enroll in SPP II and
recover only a few needed topics from SSP I.
optics, typically learned in the first three years of physics. Basic notions
of the physics of solids, as given in the course Solid State Physics I are
useful. However, interested students from other areas (e.g., theoretical
physics, physics of quantum technologies) may enroll in SPP II and
recover only a few needed topics from SSP I.
Teaching Methods
Blackboard lectures and/or with slides, according to the topic.
The course is completed by a few exercises and, depending on the availability of time,
by a computational tutorial (to learn how to run DFT calculations on simple systems),
or by the tractation of topics of computational physics.
The course is English-friendly:
1) The teaching material (textbooks, slides.) is in English;
2) The exam can be held in English, upon request by the student;
3) Part or all of the lectures can be held in English, upon agreement with
the students.
The course is completed by a few exercises and, depending on the availability of time,
by a computational tutorial (to learn how to run DFT calculations on simple systems),
or by the tractation of topics of computational physics.
The course is English-friendly:
1) The teaching material (textbooks, slides.) is in English;
2) The exam can be held in English, upon request by the student;
3) Part or all of the lectures can be held in English, upon agreement with
the students.
Assessment Methods
Oral examination (possibly via Zoom or Skype). The student has to
prepare the three basic topics (1), (2), (4) and another three topics
chosen among (3), (5)-(9). The examination starts with a topic chosen by
the student, which should be presented in some detail. Generally it is not
requested to present detailed mathematical derivations as given in the
lectures. Students should rather present the topics from a physical point
of view, illustrating the main concepts, trends, figures, methods for
measuring the physical quantities, connections among different chapters.
The exam may be held in English, if so requested.
prepare the three basic topics (1), (2), (4) and another three topics
chosen among (3), (5)-(9). The examination starts with a topic chosen by
the student, which should be presented in some detail. Generally it is not
requested to present detailed mathematical derivations as given in the
lectures. Students should rather present the topics from a physical point
of view, illustrating the main concepts, trends, figures, methods for
measuring the physical quantities, connections among different chapters.
The exam may be held in English, if so requested.
Texts
Main references:
E. Kaxiras and J. D. Joannopoulos, Quantum Theory of Materials, (Cambridge University Press 2019)
G. Grosso and G. Pastori Parravicini, Solid State Physics, 2nd edition (Academic Press, 2014)
N.W. Ashcroft, N.D. Mermin, Solid State Physics (Holt-Rinehart, 1976)
C. Kittel, Introduction to Solid State Physics, 8th edition (John Wiley & Sons, 2005).
Suggested reading
P.Y. Yu, M. Cardona, Fundamentals of Semiconductors: Physics and Material Properties, 4rd edition (Springer, 2010)
S. M. Girvin and K. Yang, Modern Condensed Matter Physics (Cambridge University Press, 2019)
G. F. Giuliani and G. Vignale, Quantum Theory of the Electron Liquid, (Cambridge University Press, 2005)
F. Giustino, Materials Modelling using Density Functional Theory: Properties and Predictions, (Oxford University Press, 2014)
J. Kohanoff, Electronic Structure Calculations for Solids and Molecules –Theory and Computational Methods, (Cambridge University Press, 2006)
D. Vanderbilt, Berry Phases in Electronic Structure Theory: Electric Polarization, Orbital Magnetization and Topological Insulators (Cambridge
University Press, 2018).
Lecture notes.
E. Kaxiras and J. D. Joannopoulos, Quantum Theory of Materials, (Cambridge University Press 2019)
G. Grosso and G. Pastori Parravicini, Solid State Physics, 2nd edition (Academic Press, 2014)
N.W. Ashcroft, N.D. Mermin, Solid State Physics (Holt-Rinehart, 1976)
C. Kittel, Introduction to Solid State Physics, 8th edition (John Wiley & Sons, 2005).
Suggested reading
P.Y. Yu, M. Cardona, Fundamentals of Semiconductors: Physics and Material Properties, 4rd edition (Springer, 2010)
S. M. Girvin and K. Yang, Modern Condensed Matter Physics (Cambridge University Press, 2019)
G. F. Giuliani and G. Vignale, Quantum Theory of the Electron Liquid, (Cambridge University Press, 2005)
F. Giustino, Materials Modelling using Density Functional Theory: Properties and Predictions, (Oxford University Press, 2014)
J. Kohanoff, Electronic Structure Calculations for Solids and Molecules –Theory and Computational Methods, (Cambridge University Press, 2006)
D. Vanderbilt, Berry Phases in Electronic Structure Theory: Electric Polarization, Orbital Magnetization and Topological Insulators (Cambridge
University Press, 2018).
Lecture notes.
Contents
The course deals with advanced concepts of solid state physics, focusing
on correlation effects, elementary excitations in solids, quantum
treatments of correlated and topological systems. The topics include: (1) Hartree-Fock
method, exchange and correlation effects, screening; (2) densityfunctional
theory (DFT) – theoretical foundations; (3) implementations of
DFT and modern methods for the calculation of the electronic-structure,
energy bands and various properties of materials; (4) electrodynamics in
metals, linear-response theory, Lindhard dielectric function, volume and
surface plasmons; (5) excitons and polaritons; (6) theory of
transport, Boltzmann equation; (7) Berry phase, theory of
polarization, orbital magnetization, topological materials;
(8) second quantization, correlations in solids (briefly), Hubbard model, itinerant magnetism (Stoner criterion),
direct and indirect exchange between localized spins; (9) advanced topics (depending on time availability)
on correlation effects, elementary excitations in solids, quantum
treatments of correlated and topological systems. The topics include: (1) Hartree-Fock
method, exchange and correlation effects, screening; (2) densityfunctional
theory (DFT) – theoretical foundations; (3) implementations of
DFT and modern methods for the calculation of the electronic-structure,
energy bands and various properties of materials; (4) electrodynamics in
metals, linear-response theory, Lindhard dielectric function, volume and
surface plasmons; (5) excitons and polaritons; (6) theory of
transport, Boltzmann equation; (7) Berry phase, theory of
polarization, orbital magnetization, topological materials;
(8) second quantization, correlations in solids (briefly), Hubbard model, itinerant magnetism (Stoner criterion),
direct and indirect exchange between localized spins; (9) advanced topics (depending on time availability)
Course Language
Italian
More information
The course is developed in full consistency with the "inclusive didactic guidelines" specified on the webpage https://portale.unipv.it/it/didattica/servizi-lo-studente/modalita-didattiche-inclusive
Degrees
Degrees (2)
PHYSICAL SCIENCES
Master’s Degree
2 years
SCIENZE FISICHE
Master’s Degree
2 years
No Results Found