[Nicolae Sfetcu - Science] Condensed matter physics
Nicolae Sfetcu
Condensed matter physics
Condensed matter physics deals with the physical
properties of condensed phases of matter. These properties appear when a
number of atoms at the supramolecular and macromolecular scale interact
strongly and adhere to each other or are otherwise highly concentrated in a
system. The most familiar examples of condensed phases are solids and
liquids. Such every-day condensed phases arise from the electromagnetic
forces between atoms. More exotic condensed phases include the
superconducting phase exhibited by certain materials at low temperature, the
ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic phases of spins on atomic lattices, and
the Bose-Einstein condensate found in certain ultracold atomic systems.
Condensed matter physics seeks to understand the behavior of these phases by using well-established physical laws. In particular, these include the laws of quantum mechanics, electromagnetism and statistical mechanics. The diversity of systems and phenomena available for study makes condensed matter physics by far the largest field of contemporary physics. By one estimate, one third of all United States physicists identify themselves as condensed matter physicists. The field has a large overlap with chemistry, materials science, and nanotechnology, and there are close connections with the related fields of atomic physics and biophysics. Theoretical condensed matter physics also shares many important concepts and techniques with theoretical particle and nuclear physics.
Historically, condensed matter physics grew out of solid-state physics, now considered one of its main subfields. The name of the field was apparently coined in 1967 by Philip Anderson and Volker Heine when they renamed their research group in the Cavendish Laboratory of the University of Cambridge from "Solid-State Theory" to "Theory of Condensed Matter". In 1978, the Division of Solid State Physics at the American Physical Society was renamed as the Division of Condensed Matter Physics. One of the reasons for this change is that many of the concepts and techniques developed for studying solids can also be applied to fluid systems. For instance, the conduction electrons in an electrical conductor form a Fermi liquid, with similar properties to conventional liquids made up of atoms or molecules. Even the phenomenon of superconductivity, in which the quantum-mechanical properties of the electrons lead to collective behavior fundamentally different from that of a classical fluid, is closely related to the superfluid phase of liquid helium.
The term condensed matter includes the solid and liquid states of matter.
Topics:
- Solid
- Crystalline solid
- bandgap
- Bloch waves (electron waves in lattice)
- conduction band
- crystal lattice
- effective mass
- electrical conduction
- electron hole
- electron gas
- phonons (lattice vibrations)
- valence band
- Amorphous solid
- Alloy
- Metal
- Semiconductor
- Insulator
- Luttinger liquid
- Antiferromagnet
- Ferromagnet
- Magnon
- Magnetic resonance
- Spin glass
- Ferroelectric
- Crystalline solid
- Surface
- Interface
- Soft matter
- Polymer
- Membrane
- Liquid crystal
- Electronic liquid crystal
- Liquid
- Complex fluid
- Superfluid
- Granular matter
- Order parameter
- Quasiparticle
- Topological defect
Phenomena
- Superconductivity
- Magnetism
- Hall effect and Quantum Hall effect
- Kondo effect
- Bose-Einstein condensate
- Phase transitions
References
- P. M. Chaikin and T. C. Lubensky (2000). Principles of Condensed Matter Physics, Cambridge University Press; 1st edition, ISBN 0521794501
- Alexander Altland and Ben Simons (2006). Condensed Matter Field Theory, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521845084
- Michael P. Marder (2000). Condensed Matter Physics, Wiley-Interscience, ISBN 0471177792
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
Technorati
Tags: condensed matter physics condensed
phases matter Nicolae
Sfetcu - Science Phenomena Physics topics condensed
matter physics condensed phases matter topics phenomena