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Solid-state physics, the largest branch of condensed matter physics, is the study of rigid matter, or solids. The bulk of solid-state physics theory and research is focused on crystals, largely because the periodicity of atoms in a crystal — its defining characteristic —facilitates mathematical modeling, and also because crystalline materials often have electrical, magnetic, optical, or mechanical properties that can be exploited for engineering purposes.

The framework of most solid-state physics theory is the Schrödinger (wave) formulation of non-relativistic quantum mechanics. Bloch's Theorem, which characterizes the wavefunctionA wavefunction is a mathematical description of the density in space of the wave associated with a particle, such as an electron in an atom, or with a group of particles, such as all of the easily movable electrons in a copper wire. In quantum mechanics ts of electronThe electron (also called negatron commonly represented as e&minus is a subatomic particle. In an atom the electrons surround the nucleus of protons and neutrons in an electron configuration. Electrons have the smallest electrical charge and when they movs in a periodic potentialIn physics, a potential is a scalar quantity that can be used to analyze the effects of complicated vectorial forces and similar quantities by means of simple conservation laws. The most common examples are forms of potential energy (and the related case, is an important starting point for much analysis. Since Bloch's Theorem applies only to periodic potentials, and since unceasing random movements of atoms in a crystal disrupt periodicity, Bloch's Theorem is only an approximation, but it has proven to be a tremendously valuable approximation, without which most solid-state physics analysis would be intractable. Deviations from periodicity are treated by quantum mechanical perturbation theoryIn quantum mechanics, perturbation theory is a set of approximation schemes for describing a complicated quantum system in terms of a simpler one. The idea is to start with a simple system and gradually turn on an additional "perturbing" Hamiltonian repre.

1 Topics

• Amorphous solidAn amorphous solid is a solid in which there is no long-range order of the positions of the atoms. Solids in which there is long-range atomic order are called crystalline solids. Most classes of solid materials can be found or prepared in an amorphous for
• Crystal structureIn mineralogy and crystallography, a crystal structure is a unique arrangement of atoms in a crystal. A crystal structure is composed of a unit cell a set of atoms arranged in a particular way, which is periodically repeated in three dimensions on a latti
  • defectsCrystalline solids have a very regular atomic structure: that is, the local positions of atoms with respect to each other are repeated at the atomic scale. These arrangements are called crystal structures, and their study is called crystallography. Howeve
  • quasicrystalQuasicrystals are a peculiar form of solid in which the atoms of the solid are arranged in a seemingly regular, yet non-repeating structure. They were first observed by Dan Shechtman in 1982. Patterns in quasicrystals In a normal crystalline solid the pos
  • reciprocal lattice
  • X-ray crystallography
• Electronic structure
  • bandgap
  • Bloch waves (electron waves in a lattice)
  • conduction band
  • effective mass
  • electron hole
  • Fermi gas
    • Fermi energy
  • Fermi liquid
  • exciton
  • valence band
• Electronic transport
  • Bloch oscillations
  • Drude model
  • electrical conduction
  • Hall effect
  • magnetoresistance
• Mechanical properties
  • Debye model of specific heat
  • elasticity
  • Mossbauer effect
  • phonons (lattice vibrations)
• Optical properties
  • crystal optics