Complete with reference tables and sample problems, this volume serves as a textbook or reference for solid-state physics and chemistry, materials science, and engineering. Chapters illustrate symmetry, and its role in determining solid properties, as well as a demonstration of group theory.

Crystals are everywhere, from natural crystals (minerals) through the semiconductors and magnetic materials in electronic devices and computers or piezoelectric resonators at the heart of our quartz watches to electro-optical devices. Understanding them in depth is essential both for pure research and for their applications. This book provides a clear, thorough presentation of their symmetry, both at the microscopic space-group level and the macroscopic point-group level. The implications of the symmetry of crystals for their physical properties are then presented, together with their mathematical description in terms of tensors. The conditions on the symmetry of a crystal for a given property to exist then become clear, as does the symmetry of the property. The geometrical representation of tensor quantities or properties is presented, and its use in determining important relationships emphasized. An original feature of this book is that most chapters include exercises with complete solutions. This allows readers to test and improve their understanding of the material. The intended readership includes undergraduate and graduate students in materials science and materials-related aspects of electrical and optical engineering; researchers involved in the investigation of the physical properties of crystals and the design of applications based on crystal properties such as piezoelectricity, electro-optics, optical activity and all those involved in the characterization of the structural properties of materials.

Crystals are sometimes called 'Flowers of the Mineral Kingdom'. In addition to their great beauty, crystals and other textured materials are enormously useful in electronics, optics, acoustics and many other engineering applications. This richly illustrated text describes the underlying principles of crystal physics and chemistry, covering a wide range of topics and illustrating numerous applications in many fields of engineering using the most important materials today. Tensors, matrices, symmetry and structure-property relationships form the main subjects of the book. While tensors and matrices provide the mathematical framework for understanding anisotropy, on which the physical and chemical properties of crystals and textured materials often depend, atomistic arguments are also needed to quantify the property coefficients in various directions. The atomistic arguments are partly based on symmetry and partly on the basic physics and chemistry of materials. After introducing the point groups appropriate for single crystals, textured materials and ordered magnetic structures, the directional properties of many different materials are described: linear and nonlinear elasticity, piezoelectricity and electrostriction, magnetic phenomena, diffusion and other transport properties, and both primary and secondary ferroic behavior. With crystal optics (its roots in classical mineralogy) having become an important component of the information age, nonlinear optics is described along with the piexo-optics, magneto-optics, and analogous linear and nonlinear acoustic wave phenomena. Enantiomorphism, optical activity, and chemical anisotropy are discussed in the final chapters of the book.

An eminently readable book on the symmetry of crystals and molecules, starting from first principles

As the structure and behavior of molecules and crystals depend on their different symmetries, group theory becomes an essential tool in many important areas of chemistry. It is a quite powerful theoretical tool to predict many basic as well as some characteristic properties of molecules. Whereas quantum mechanics provide solutions of some chemical problems on the basis of complicated mathematics, group theory puts forward these solutions in a very simplified and fascinating manner. Group theory has been successfully applied to many chemical problems. Students and teachers of chemical sciences have an invisible fear from this subject due to the difficulty with the mathematical jugglery. An active sixth dimension is required to understand the concept as well as to apply it to solve the problems of chemistry. This book avoids mathematical complications and presents group theory so that it is accessible to students as well as faculty and researchers. Chemical Applications of Symmetry and Group Theory discusses different applications to chemical problems with suitable examples. The book develops the concept of symmetry and group theory, representation of group, its applications to I.R. and Raman spectroscopy, U.V spectroscopy, bonding theories like molecular orbital theory, ligand field theory, hybridization, and more. Figures are included so that reader can visualize the symmetry, symmetry elements, and operations.

Modern semiconductor and laser techniques would be unthinkable today without a highly developed physics of solids. As tailored materials increasingly gain significance, it is more important than ever to understand the basics of crystalline materials and the influence of their symmetry on phenomenological aspects. This first international edition of a classic German standard integrates the latest developments in the field, including two-dimensional crystals and Giant Magneto-Resistance. Its aim is to impart the knowledge necessary to comprehend the manifold peculiarities of crystalline substances in a comprehensive and easily accessible manner. The book devotes much space to a coherent introduction to tensor calculation, making this the first to address the topic in a readily understandable way. Supplemented by 40 exercises with their solutions, this is an ideal textbook for students of physics and chemistry, solid state physicists and chemists, and materials scientists, but also a comprehensive resource for those who wish to get an overview of this important topic.

This book provides a rigorous account on the fundamentals and applications of Group Theory to chemical physics.