Solid State Physics: Problems and Solutions

By Laszlo Mihaly, Michael C. Martin, László Mihály, et al.

Taking the premise that the way to learn is by solving problems, the authors present a collection of problems and their solutions greater in number than the critical mass number which can be memorized. The book provides a self-study approach to testing students' knowledge in solid state/condensed matter physics and to measure their progress at midterms, finals and comprehensive exams. This book should be of interest to advanced undergraduate and graduate students of physics and astronomy.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471152870
• ISBN13: 9780471152873
• Release Date: July 1996
• Publisher: Wiley-VCH
• Length: 275 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.7" x 0.6" x 6.7"

Customer Reviews

excellent training

a very good book. The problems are smart. The order in which the problems are given is smart.

Mastery through pratice

This problems and solutions in solid state physics book leaves much freedom and autonomy to the reader. The expositions of the many problems this book contains are generally short and cover a wide range of solid state physics notions. Much more instructive than Kittel's or Ashcroft and Mermin's exercises set.

For those who want to solve a lot of problems in SSP

This book compiles a large number of problems in SSP (included solutions to the problems as well). It could certainly be used as a supplement for a first course in SSP very effectively.

Modern, challenging and interesting

One rarely comes across a book, about which one can say without any qualifying adjective, that it is simply great. The book of Mihaly and Martin however does belong in this rarefied category. As anyone teaching solid state physics knows from experience, it is always demanding to find quality examples. The problems in the previous standard books are unfortunately dated, often decades back. In contrast, Mihaly and Martin bring examples from the very latest developments in solid state physics. At the same time they find room for covering the actual workings of such must-know experimental apparatii, as the triple axis spectrometer and the Fourier transform infrared spectrometer. It is hard to find books, which adress the theoretical and experimental sides of our discipline with such balance. When the authors cover more conventional topics, like symmetries and band structures, they make them exciting for the student by chosing fascinating applications, for instance lattices of fullerenes instead of sodium. When they cover modern areas, they devote space extensively, very much unlike similar treatises. These include optical properties, correlation effects in infinite and low dimensional models, and phase transitions in electronic systems. The best recommendation goes beyond words; it is reflected in actions: I already adopted the book in my course, and the students cannot get enough of these inventive problems. They actually like solving the homework problems, a true satisfaction for any teacher.