CNSE 626 Quantum Processes in Solids and Nanostructures II
Fall 2008

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Instructor: Prof. Y. Alex Xue

Office: CESTM B131 Phone: (518) 956-7220 Email: yxue@uamail.albany.edu

Meeting Time and Location: Monday 4:15-7:05 PM NFS classroom (Except for the 1st week)

Office Hour: Friday 2-3 PM or By Appointment. 

Course Description:
This is the second half of a one-year course that addresses the fundamental concepts relevant to the investigation of nanomaterials and nanodevices by applying the methods of quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics to examine the atomic and electronic properties of surfaces and nanostructured materials and devices. Topics covered include: (1) Surface science: statistical thermodynamics of clean and adsobed surfaces, atomic and electronic structure of clean and adsorbed surfaces, tunneling and scanning tunneling microscopy; (2) Quantum transport in nanostructures: Scattering view of nanoscale quantum transport, ballistic and diffusive transport, quantum Hall effect, single-electron tunneling and molecular-scale electronics.

Prerequisite:
CNSE 625 or equivalent, i.e., a sound knowledge of quantum mechanics and introductory knowledge of statitical physics and solids state physics or by permission of instructor.

Course Text:
There is not a single textbook that covers completely the course materials. The required textbook is M.-C. Desjonqueres and D. Spanjaard, Concepts in Surface Physics, 2^nd edition (Springer, 1996), which is an excellent general book for surface science. You can also find useful some materials from the textbook of CNSE625 (E. Kaxiras, Atomic and Electronic Structure of Solids, Cambridge University Press, 2003). Additional course materials on quantum transport and nanoelectronics will be provided separately.

Here is a list of additional relevant textbooks that may help you understand the course materials.
Background in Statistical Physics and Solid State Physics
1) N.A. Ashcroft & N.D. Mermin, Solid State Physics (Saunders, 1976). Good general text.
2) D. Chandler, Introduction to Modern Statistical Mechanics (Oxford University Press, 1987).
Surface Science
1) H. Luth, Surfaces and Interfaces of Solids, 3rd edition (Springer, 1995).
2) H. Ibach, Physics of Surfaces and Interfaces (Springer, 2006).
Quantum Transport and Nanoelectronics
1) K. Flensberg and H. Bruus, Many-Body Quantum Theory in Condensed Matter Physics (Oxford University Press, 2004).
2) C.W.J. Beenakker and H. van Houten, "Quantum Transport in Nanostructures", in Solid State Physics, Vol. 44,
    edited by H. Ehrenreich and D. Turnbull (Academic Press, 1991). E-print available at http://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0412664.
3) Lecture notes on Qunatum Transport by Yu. Galperin (University of Oslo, Norway).

Grades:
Grading will be based on three term papers, which are literature reports on one or several papers relevant to surface physics, scanning probe microscopy and nanoelectronics. I'll give further guidance about this later. 

Course Website:  http://www.albany.edu/~yx152122/CNSE625.html.
Lecture notes and reading materials can be found at the course website. 

 Tenative Weakly Course Materials:

    Week/Date Lecture Topic            Reading Materials                   Homework

Week 1 (8/27)	Surface structure and thermodynamics	Ch 3.1, Ch 2.1-2.3, 2.4.1, 2.4.2
Week 2 (9/8)	Atomic vibrations at surfaces	Ch. 4.1-4.3, Ch. 4.5
Week 3 (9/15)	Jellium model of simple metal surfaces	Ch. 5.1, Appendix D
Week 4 (9/22)	Surface states and image potential	Ch.5.2, Ch. 5.8.1-5.8.3bb
Week 5 (10/6) Week 6 (10/13)	Tight-binding model and Green's functiono Transition metal and semiconductor surfaces	Ch. 5.3, Appendix B (also literature reading 1) Ch. 5.4, 5.5
Week 7 (10/20)	Physisorption and chemisorption at surfaces	Ch. 6.1-6.3
Week 8 (10/27)	Electronic structure of adsorbed surfaces	Ch. 6.4
Week 9 (11/3)	First and second quantization	Flensberg/Bruus Ch.1	Literature Report 1 Due
Week 10 (11/10)	Time-evolution and Linear Response Theory	Flensberg/Bruus Ch.5 and Ch.6
Week 11 (11/17)	Tunneling and scanning tunneling microscopy	Ch. 3.2.1b, Ch. 5.10.4, Appendix G, and article by Tersoff/Lang.
Week 12 (11/24)	Mesoscopic transport: Landauer-Buttiker approach	Flensberg/Bruus Ch.7	Literature Report 2 Due
Week 13 (12/1)	Method of Green's functions	Flensberg/Bruus Chs.8&9
Week 14 (12/8)	Transport in interacting mesoscopic systems	Flensberg/Bruus Ch. 10
Week 15	Final Exam Week	Literature Report 3 Due