The 'estimated time on task' for each assessment item is an estimate of the additional time needed to complete each assessment outside of all scheduled learning activities. These estimates assume that you actively engage with all scheduled learning activities and spend an additional 31 hours of self-led study during the session. 

If you receive special consideration for the final exam, a supplementary exam will be scheduled after the end of the normal exam period. By making a special consideration application for the final exam you are declaring yourself available for a resit during the supplementary examination period and will not be eligible for a second special consideration approval based on pre-existing commitments. Please ensure you are familiar with the policy prior to submitting an application. Approved applicants will receive an individual notification one week prior to the exam with the exact date and time of their supplementary examination.

Lab experiments and reports

Students will have to conduct four out of the seven following experiments available in the practical part of PHYS3180:

• Debye Temperature
• X-ray Diffraction
• Properties of Semiconductors
• Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
• Superconductors
• Peltier Cooling
• Fabrication and Imaging of 2D materials 

Please note the following points

1. You are required to complete four of the experiments.
2. Students should make a booking for two lab sessions for each experiment they undertake. A booking gives priority provided the students arrive punctually at the start of the laboratory session.
3. A resource folder is available for each project, containing useful background information.  These may be taken away from the lab, but must be returned within two weeks for other students to use.
4. You should refer to the document Recommendations for Laboratory Report Writing when preparing reports.  Please ensure that your reports conform to these guidelines, and feel free to discuss this with any of the staff. You are required to write reports for two of the four experiments, one for experiment 1 or 2, and one for experiment 3 or 4.
5. Reports should not contain text that has been copied from the instructional notes.  You should provide background and discussion material in your own words. It is expected that you produce your own original figures wherever possible, either hand-drawn or computer generated.  Anything taken from another source must be clearly acknowledged.
6. Besides two formal reports, you are required to write extensive (Python-based)  electronic lab notes that provide the base for the lab report writing. After each 2-week experimental session, the electronic lab notes will be pulled and assessed (worth half of the total lab mark, that is 15% in total). The lab notes should reflect the in-class prac work.

Required textbook covering the week 1-6:

Concepts in Thermal Physics, 2nd edition, by S.J. & K.M. Blundell

Required textbook covering the week 7-13:

Oxford Solid State Basics, by Steven H. Simon.

Note: Lecture materials, additional reading and assignments will be posted to iLearn

Lecture content

• week 1:     Temperature, Boltzmann Factor, kinetic theory of gases
• week 2:     Kinetic theory of gases, transport and thermal diffusion
• week 3:     1^st law and expansion process
• week 4:     2^nd law and Carnot engine
• week 5:     Equipartition theorem, partition function and distinguishability
• week 6:     Heat capacity of solids, Debye theory
• week 7:     Electron transport in solids, Drude model
• week 8:     Sommerfeld theory of electrons
• week 9:     1D solid: phonons and electrons
• week 10:   Crystal Structure & Reciprocal Lattice
• week 11:   Wave Scattering by crystals  
• week 12:   Electrons in solids – band structure
• week 13:   Topics from modern solid-state physics

Note: The division by week and topics is only approximate and will change depending on progress.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Labs schedule (location E7B 252)

• week 1:    short online (ZOOM) intro session to introduce electronic lab books and the suite of experiments on offer
• week 2:    experiment 1
• week 3:    experiment 1
• week 4:    free week to write draft report for experiment 1
• week 5:    experiment 2
• week 6:    experiment 2
• week 7:    free week to write final report for experiment 1
• week 8:    experiment 3
• week 9:    experiment 3
• week 10:  free week to write final report for experiment 2 or 3
• week 11:  experiment 4
• week 12:  experiment 4
• week 13:  no experiments.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Schedule of assessable tasks and related materials

Assignments 

The assignments will be handed out bi-weekly with the exact dates announced on iLearn. 

Labwork

The due dates for lab reports will be announced in class and on iLearn well in advance.

NOTE:

We understand that at times due dates for assignments from several different units can collide and we are happy to accommodate changes in due dates, provided the request occurs well in advance of the due date. Once the change has been agreed on, it cannot be moved again. A late penalty (-5% per day) applies after the due dates.

You are required to carry out four experiments, each taking no more than two weeks to complete, and to submit reports on two of them according to the deadlines announced in class and on iLearn. These dates are not negotiable except in cases of serious illness or misadventure. 

For interested students, there might be the possibility to help set up a new teaching experiment on 2D materials. This option will be discussed in the introductory lab session.