This is a classic text of its time in condensed matter physics.

This book focuses on phonons and electrons, which the student needs to learn first in solid state physics. The required quantum theory and statistical physics are derived from scratch. Systematic in structure and tutorial in style, the treatment is filled with detailed mathematical steps and physical interpretations. This approach ensures a self-sufficient content for easier teaching and learning. The objective is to introduce the concepts of phonons and electrons in a more rigorous and yet clearer way, so that the student does not need to relearn them in more advanced courses. Examples are the transition from lattice vibrations to phonons and from free electrons to energy bands.The book can be used as the beginning module of a one-year introductory course on solid state physics, and the instructor will have a chance to choose additional topics. Alternatively, it can be taught as a stand-alone text for building the most-needed foundation in just one semester.

This volume is devoted to the electron and phonon energy states of inorganic layered crystals. The distinctive feature of these low-dimensional materials is their easy mechanical cleavage along planes parallel to the layers. This feature implies that the chemical binding within each layer is much stronger than the binding between layers and that some, but not necessarily all, physical properties of layered crystals have two-dimensional character. In Wyckoff's Crystal Structures, SiC and related com pounds are regarded as layered structures, because their atomic layers are alternately stacked according to the requirements of cubic and hexagonal close-packing. How ever, the uniform (tetrahedral) coordination of the atoms in these compounds excludes the kind of structural anisotropy that is fundamental to the materials dis cussed in this volume. An individual layer of a layered crystal may be composed of either a single sheet of atoms, as in graphite, or a set of up to five atomic sheets, as in Bi2 Te3' A layer may also have more complicated arrangements of the atoms, as we find for example in Sb S . But the unique feature common to all these materials is 2 3 the structural anisotropy, which directly affects their electronic and vibrational properties. The nature of the weak interlayer coupling is not very well understood, despite the frequent attribution of the coupling in the literature to van der Waals forces. Two main facts, however, have emerged from all studies.

This monograph is a radical departure from the conventional quantum mechanical approach to electron-phonon interactions. It translates the customary quantum mechanical analysis of the electron-phonon interactions carried out in Fourier space into a predominantly classical analysis carried out in real space. Various electron-phonon interactions such as the polar and nonpolar optical phonons, acoustic phonons that interact via deformation potential and via the piezoelectric effect and phonons in metals, are treated in this monograph by a single, relatively simple ?classical? model. This model is shown to apply to electron interactions with the deep lying X-ray levels of atoms, with plasmons and with Cerenkov radiation. The unifying concept that applies to all of these phenomena is a new definition of a coupling constant. The essentially classical interaction of an electron with its surrounding is clearly brought out to be the cause of spontaneous emission of phonons. The same concept also applies to the case of spontaneous emission of photons. While the bulk of this monograph deals with quanta of phonons and quanta of photons, a discussion of the acousto electric effect which is a purely classical phenomenon is presented. The newly defined coupling constant turns out to be valid too for this discussion. This universality of the coupling constant goes far beyond. It is equally applicable to amorphous materials. This significant application gives an analytic formulation of mobility in amorphous materials.

This lecture-style monograph is addressed to several categories of readers. First, it will be useful for graduate students studying theory. Second, the topics covered should be interesting for postgraduate students of various specializations. Third, the researchers who want to understand the background of modern theoretical issues in more detail can find a number of useful results here. The phenomena covered involve kinetics of electron, phonon, and photon systems in solids. The dynamical properties and interactions of electrons, phonons, and photons are briefly described in Chapter 1. Further, in Chapters 2-8, the authors present the main theoretical methods: linear response theory, various kinetic equations for the quasiparticles under consideration, and diagram technique. The presentation of the key approaches is always accompanied by solutions of concrete problems to illustrate ways to apply the theory. The remaining chapters are devoted to various manifestations of quantum transport in solids. The choice of particular topics is determined by their scientific importance and methodological value. The 267 supplementary problems presented in the ends of chapters are offered to guide the reader in self-study. Focusing attention on the methodological aspects and discussing a great diversity of kinetic phenomena, in keeping with the guiding principle "a method is more important than a result", the authors minimize both detailed discussion of physical mechanisms of the phenomena considered and comparison of theoretical results to experimental data.

The state-of-the-art theoretical studies of ground state properties, electronic states and atomic vibrations for bulk semiconductors and their surfaces by the application of the pseudopotential method are discussed. Studies of bulk and surface phonon modes have been extended by the application of the phenomenological bond charge model. The coverage of the material, especially of the rapidly growing and technologically important topics of surface reconstruction and chemisorption, is up-to-date and beyond what is currently available in book form. Although theoretical in nature, the book provides a good deal of discussion of available experimental results. Each chapter provides an adequate list of references, relevant for both theoretical and experimental studies. The presentation is coherent and self-contained, and is aimed at the postgraduate and postdoctoral levels.

An introduction to the application of Feynman diagram techniques for researchers and advanced undergraduate students in condensed matter theory and many-body physics.