3/16/23

An Introduction to
Condensed Matter
Physics
---- A Historical Perspective

Xin (Sunny) Wang

x.wang@cityu.edu.hk

Who am I?

´ Name: Xin (Sunny) Wang

´ B. S. (2005)

´ Ph. D. (2010)

´ Postdoc (2010-2015)

´ Assistant Professor (2015-2020)

´ Associate Professor (2020-)

´ Research Interest: Quantum Physics,

Condensed Matter Physics (Theory)

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Condensed Matter Physics:

´ The largest branch of physics

´ Most physics graduate students are in
condensed matter
´ Condensed matter physicisits publish
more paper than any other fields in
physics (Physical Review B is the thickest
among all Physical Reviews)
´ DCMP (Division of Condensed Matter
Physics) is the largeset division of APS
(Ameircan Physical Society)

What is “Condensed
Matter”?

There are several ”phases” of matter. We

can understand the “condensed matter”
as “solids” and “liquids” for the time being.

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So what is the earliest

studied condensed matter?

人猿相揖別。只幾個石頭磨過，小兒時節。

Man, to the man-ape, waved goodbye,

Having some stone tools in the age
Which was his early Childhood’s stage.

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Stones as the earliest studied

condensed matter

by Viktor Vasnetsov

Stones are “brittle”: hard but

easy to break

Contrary to brittleness is
ductility: a ductile material
can be plastically deformed
without fracture

Brittleness and ductility were

in fact the central subjects of
“materials science”

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Stones as weapons,
August 15th, 2017

銅鐵爐中翻火焰，為問何時猜得？
不過幾千寒熱。

The flames of bronze and iron were high;

When did he learn the art, d’you know?—
But a few thousand years ago.

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The Bronze Age

The Iron Age

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In ancient times, we have

focused on the “mechanical
properties” of solids.

It is by harnessing the solids

that we have made
progresses of our society.

Ages that we skip

Ages of Discovery Industrial Revolution

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Second Industrial Revolution:

the age of electricity

The Great Inventors

Thomas Edison Alexander G. Bell Guglielmo Marconi

Nobel Prize in
Physics 1909

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During the second industrial

revolution, progresses are
mostly made by harnessing
the electrical (and magnetic)
properties of solids.

The Information Age

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In modern times,
technological advances rely
more and more on properties
of condensed matter which
can only be understood by
quantum mechanics.

The Group 14 (Group IV) elements: similar

chemically, but different physically

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Carbon, 6C

Silicon, 14Si
Germanium, 32Ge

Tin, 50Sn Lead, 82Pb

A superconductor can levitate a

magnet, or ...

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Nobel Prize in
Physics 2010

The international prototype of the

kilogram, ”Le Grand K”

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With an electron microscope, we can

actually see viruses injecting their DNA into
a bacterium.

Topological quantum computing:

computing by “braiding”

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Actually, a branch of
condensed matter physics
was born in ancient China
since ca. 4000 B.C.

慈石召鐵，或引之也。
----《 呂氏春秋．精通 》

The lodestone calls the

iron to itself, or attracts it.

Lü Buwei
呂不韋
(292 BC – 235 BC)
“magetism”

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夫人臣之侵其主也，如地形
焉，即漸以往，使人主失
端，東西易面而不自知，故
先王立司南以端朝夕。
----《 韓非子．有度篇 》

Han Fei
韓非
(c. 281 BC – 233 BC)

“compass”

(English Translation)

Indeed, the minister trespasses against the

sovereign in the court as in the lie of the land.
Leading forward step by step, he makes the
lord of men forget the starting-point until he
turns from east to west and is not conscious of
the change. To guard against such
misleadings, the early kings set up the south-
pointing needle to ascertain the directions of
sun-rise and sun-set.

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By the Song dynasty, many

aspects of magnetism have
been well understood.
方家以磁石磨针锋，则能指南，
然常微偏东，不全南也。水浮
多荡摇。指爪及碗唇上皆可为
之，运转尤速，但坚滑易坠，
不若缕悬为最善。其法取新纩
中独茧缕，以芥子许蜡，缀于
针腰，无风处悬之，则针常指
南。其中有磨而指北者。余家
指南、北者皆有之。
----沈括《梦溪笔谈》

(English Translation)

Magicians rub the point of a needle with the

lodestone; then, it is able to point to the south. But
it always inclines slightly to the east and does not
point directly at the south. It may be made to float
on the surface of water, but it is then rather
unsteady... It is best to suspend it by a single
cocoon fiber of new silk attached to the centre of
the needle by a piece of wax the size of a
mustard-seed — then, hanging in a windless place,
it will always point to the south...

Meng Chhi Pi Than, Shen Kua

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Scholars in the east have

made great contributions to
various aspects of early
sciences.

Unfortunately, condensed
matter physics, along with
other sciences, was not born
(and developed) in the east.

“father of chemistry”
“Why does not water admit
its bulk of every kind of gas
alike? This question I have
duly considered, and
though I am not able to
satisfy myself completely I
am nearly persuaded that
the circumstance depends
on the weight and number
John Dalton
of the ultimate particles of
the several gases.”
(1766 – 1844)

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Dalton’s Elements

´ Elements are made of

extremely small particles
called atoms.
´ Atoms of a given element are
identical in size, mass, etc.;
atoms of different elements
differ in size, mass, etc.
´ Atoms cannot be divided,
created, or destroyed.
´ In chemical reactions, atoms
are combined, separated, or John Dalton
rearranged. (1766 – 1844)

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Davy’s Elements

´ Of the 40 known elements, 26

have metallic properties such
as lustre, ductility and high
electrical and thermal
conductivity.
´ This means that the atoms
are not indivisible as Dalton
claimed, but have inner
structure.
´ Elements that were believed
to be gases, such Sir Humphry Davy
as N and H could be
liquefied and would then
(1778 – 1829)
behave as metals.

Liquefaction of gases

´ Farady was an RA in
Davy’s lab in 1823.
´ Farady successfully
liquefied chlorine
´ He went on to liquefy all
known gaseous elements,
except for nitrogen,
hydrogen, and oxygen.

Michael Faraday
(1791 – 1867)

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Someone: What is your greatest

discovery, Sir Davy?
Davy: Michael Faraday.

The “critical” phenomena

´ Irish chemist Thomas

Andrews studied
the phase transition from a
liquid to a gas
´ He coined the term critical
point to describe the
condition where a gas and
a liquid were
indistinguishable as phases

Thomas Andrews
(1813 – 1885)

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´ For ”air”, nothing special

happens: continuity of
state.
´ For CO2: above 31
degrees, it behaves like
regular air.
´ Below 31 degrees,
“condensation” occurs
at the plateau of the
isothermal curve: some
air turns into liquid while
the volume is reduced.

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´ “X”: isopycnic point at

which the liquid and gas
share equal density
´ Z: liquid
´ Y: gas
´ Tc, pc of X: “critical
temperature” and
“critical pressure”
´ how to reconcile the
idea of continuity of
state with the
discontinuous change
observed
experimentally?

´ Another physicist also

born in the nothern
Ireland, James Thomson,
studied the discontinuous
isotherm.
´ He is also the brother
of William Thomson (later
Lord Kelvin)

James Thomson
(1822-1892)

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´ Thomson claims that the

gaseous and liquid parts
of a discontinuous
isotherm were
only apparently
discontinuous, and
were actually parts of
one smooth curve
shown in dotted lines in
the diagram to the right.
´ Every isotherm should be
a continuous curve.

“It is evident that the equation for such a

complete curve must be of odd degree in V, for
V increases with diminishing P at both ends of
the curve. Furthermore the equation must be of
at least the third degree in V, since a certain
pressure may correspond to more than one
volume. At lower temperatures three roots of the
equation are real, at the critical point the three
coincide, and at higher temperatures two of
them become imaginary.”

-------Thermodynamics and the Free Energy of

Chemical Substances, Lewis and Randall

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The van der Waals Equation

´ Dutch physicist
Johannes van der
Waals, then a student
in Leiden University,
provided the first
theoretical solution of
the problem.
´ He has been awarded
the Nobel prize in
Johannes Diderik van der Waals
Physics in 1910
“for his work on the (1837 – 1923)
equation of state for Nobel Prize in
gases and liquids” Physics 1910

´ At Leiden University on
Saturday 14 June 1873,
from 12 noon to 3 pm,
Johannes van der Waals
defended his doctoral
thesis
´ The title
“Over de Continuiteit
van den Gas en
Vloeistoftoestand (On
the Continuity of the
Gaseous and Liquid
State)” was almost
exactly the same as
Andrews’ 1869 paper.

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The van der Waals equation

⇣ a ⌘
p + 2 (V b) = RT
V
´ The van der Waals
equation introduces a
and b: gas-specific
constants related to
molecular attraction
and molecular volume
´ It correctly predicts a
mostly incompressible
liquid phase, but
details in the phase
transition zone are not
completely correct.

Heike Kamerlingh Onnes and Johannes van der

Waals with the helium liquefactor in Leiden (1908)

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Liquefaction of Helium

´ 10 July 1908, Dutch physicist

Onnes was the first to
liquefy helium. He has been
able to lower the
temperature to the boiling
point of helium (−269 °C, 4.2
K).
´ By reducing the pressure of
the liquid helium he
achieved a temperature
near 1.5 K. Heike Kamerlingh Onnes
´ These were the coldest (1853 – 1926)
temperatures achieved on
earth at the time. Nobel Prize in
Physics 1913

However, the most important

contribution of Onnes is the
discovery of superconductivity:
the “resistivity” of some metal
decrease abruptly to zero
below certain “crtical
temperature”.

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Resistivity

Superconductivity

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Superconductivity

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With our far-reaching

ignorance of the quantum
mechanics of composite
systems we are very far
from being able to
compose a theory out of
these vague ideas ...

---Albert Einstein, 1922 Albert Einstein

(1879 – 1955)
Nobel Prize in
Physics 1921

the Drude theory

of conductivity

´ In 1900 German physicist

Paul Drude derived a model
of conductivity ”Drude
model”

Paul Karl Ludwig Drude

(1863 – 1906)

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the Drude theory

of conductivity
´ Electrons (blue)
constantly bounce
between heavier,
stationary crystal
ions (red)
´ Key parameter:
mean-free time
✓ ◆
nq 2 ⌧
J= E
m

´ This model also gives

a semi-quatitative
explanation of the
Ohm’s law

the Pauli exclusion principle

´ In 1924 Wolfgang
Pauli introduced a "two-
valued quantum degree of
freedom" associated with
the electrons (later
recognized to be “spins”)
´ He has also formulated
the Pauli exclusion principle,
stating that no two electrons
can share the Wolfgang Ernst Pauli
same quantum state at the
(1900 – 1958)
same time.
Nobel Prize in
Physics 1945

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Pauli Paramagnetism

´ Pauli recognized that the

free electrons in metal
should not be regarded
as ideal gas, but should
rather obey
“Fermi-Dirac statistics”.
´ Using this idea he coined
an explanation of
paramagnetism
´ Application of an external magnetic field increases
the density of electrons with spins parallel with the
field and lowers the density of the electrons with
opposite spin.

Crystal

´ Crystal: a solid material

whose constituents are
arranged orderly, forming
a lattice.

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Crystals

single crystal: Polycrystal: Amorphous solid

atoms in a near- many (e.g. glass): no
perfect periodic microscopic periodic
arrangement crystals arrangement
("crystallites" or even
"grains”) microscopically.

Periodic structures

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Classification of
lattices

´ In 1848 French physicist

Bravais showed that in 3D
there are only 14 possible
lattices
´ Bravais lattice: an infinite
array of discrete points with
identical environment
´ Lattices are characterized
by translation symmetry
Auguste Bravais
(1811 – 1863)

2D Bravais
lattices

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3D Bravais
lattices

´Bravias along with

other scientists
created the field of
Crystallography

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´International Tables
of Crystallography
was first published in
1935

The Bloch wave

´ In 1928, Swiss
physicist Felix Bloch
provided a wave
function solution to
the Schrödinger
equation with
a periodic potential,
called the Bloch wave
Felix Bloch
(1905 – 1983)
Nobel Prize in
Physics 1952

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Visualization of Bloch waves

The Brillouin zones

´ In 1930, French physicist

Brillouin introduced the
concept of ”Brillouin
zones”
´ The ”Brillouin zones” are
closely related to the
Fourier transform of the
Bravais lattice (the
“reciprocal lattice”) Léon Nicolas Brillouin
(1889–1969)

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The Brillouin zones

First Brillouin zone of FCC lattice, a truncated

first Brillouin zones of (a) square
octahedron
lattice and (b) hexagonal lattice

The Brillouin zones

Brillouin-zone construction SADP of a

by selected area diffraction, using single austenite crystal in a
300 keV electrons. piece of steel

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The band theory for solids

´ A single atom has discrete energy levels

´ If N same atoms are joined together, the Pauli principle dictates that
each orbital split into N.
´ Since there are so many with similar energy, they are continuous
instead of discrete, forming bands.

The band theory for solids

´ Outermost electrons forms the conduction band,

responsible for conductrivity
´ Band gap: energy ranges without coverage from any
energy levels

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Filling of bands

1930s: the first band structure calculation

Douglas R. Hartree Vladimir Fock John C. Slater

(1897–1958) (1898–1974) (1900–1976)

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1960s: the Density Functional Theory

Pierre Hohenberg Walter Kohn Lu Jeu Sham

(1934–2017) (1923–2016) 沈呂九
(1938–)
Nobel Prize in
Chemistry 1998

Typical calculated band structures

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Typical calculated band structures

1947: the first semiconductor-based

transistor

William B. Shockley John Bardeen Walter H. Brattain

(1910–1989) (1908–1991) (1902–1987)
Nobel Prize in Nobel Prize in Nobel Prize in
Physics 1956 Physics 1956 Physics 1956

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The first transistor, invented at Bell Laboratories on

December 16, 1947

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The invention of a transistor is a

historic moment: it later made
possible the integrated circuit
and microprocessor that are the
basis of modern electronics.

We have learned something

about the “band theory”.

DFT remains the workhorse of

theoretical condensed
matter physics today.

Now we turn to another

topic. Let us travel back to
1879.

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Discovery of the Hall

effect
´ In 1879, Edwin Herbert
Hall discovered a voltage
developing
across conductors transverse
to an electric current in the
conductor and magnetic
field perpendicular to the
current.
´ This phenomenon arises due
to the nature of charge
carriers in the conductor is Edwin Herbert Hall
called the Hall effect. (1855–1938)

´ Electrons first follow the curved arrow.

´ They then pile up on the left side and deplete from the
right side, which creates an electric field.
´ In steady-state, the field is strong enough to exactly
cancel out the magnetic force, thus the electrons follow
the straight arrow.

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1980: Quantum Hall

effect
´ The quantum Hall
effect was discovered
by Klaus von Klitzing in
1980 when he observed
the Hall conductance
to be integer multiples of
a fundamental
constant e2/h;
´ RK=h/e2= Klaus von Klitzing
25812.807557(18) Ω is
called the von Klitzing
(1943–)
constant Nobel Prize in
Physics 1985

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The (integer) quantum Hall effect

e2 1 h
xy =⌫ ⇢xy =
h ⌫ e2

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The International Prototype Kilogram was commissioned by the General

Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) under the authority of
the Metre Convention (1875), and in the custody of the International
Bureau of Weights and Measures (BIPM) who hold it on behalf of the
CGPM. After the International Prototype Kilogram had been found to vary
in mass over time relative to its reproductions, the International Committee
for Weights and Measures (CIPM) recommended in 2005 that the kilogram
be redefined in terms of a fundamental constant of nature. At its
2011 meeting, the CGPM agreed in principle that the kilogram should be
redefined in terms of the Planck constant, h. The decision was originally
deferred until 2014; in 2014 it was deferred again until the next
meeting. CIPM has proposed revised definitions of the SI base units, for
consideration at the 26th CGPM.
The International Committee for Weights and Measures (CIPM)
approved a redefinition of the SI base units in November 2018 that
defines the kilogram by defining the Planck constant to be
exactly 6.62607015×10−34 kg⋅m2⋅s−1, effectively defining the kilogram
in terms of the second and the metre. The new definition took effect on
20 May 2019.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilogram

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Landau Levels
´ In 2D, classical electrons
follow circular cyclotron
orbits when subjected to a
magnetic field.
´ Quantum mechanically,
these orbits are quantized.
The energy levels of
these quantized orbitals
take on discrete values:

✓ ◆
En = ~!c n+
1
, !c =
qB Lev Davidovich Landau
2 mc (1908–1968)
´ These orbitals are known
Nobel Prize in
as Landau levels (1930).
Physics 1962

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Understanding the integer quantum Hall

effect based on Landau levels

1982-1983: Discovery (and partial

explanation) of the fractional quantum Hall
effect

Robert B. Laughlin Horst L. Störmer Daniel Chee Tsui

(1950–) (1949–) 崔琦
(1939–)
Nobel Prize in Nobel Prize in Nobel Prize in
Physics 1998 Physics 1998 Physics 1998

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The FQHE unveiled a new chapter of

condensed matter physics.

It shows the limit of many exisiting

theories. FQH states represent new states
of matter that contain a completely new
kind of order—topological order.

Topics arising from the FQHE,

e.g. quantum phases and quantum
phase transitions, fractional
charge, fractional statistics, non-Abelian
statistics, etc. are actively being studied
today.

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2004: Discovery of graphene

´ In 2004,
Geim and
Novoselov
obtained
“graphene”,
a two-
dimensional
crystal of
pure carbon Andre K. Geim Konstantin S. Novoselov
(1958–) (1974–)
Nobel Prize in Nobel Prize in
Physics 2010 Physics 2010

“playfulness”

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What is graphene?

´ Graphene: a single
layer of carbon
atoms that are
bonded together
in a repeating
pattern of
hexagons.

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Graphene: the miracle material

Observation of quantum Hall effect

in graphene

´ Kim and collaborators have

done a lot of experimental
work on graphene, including
observation of the quantum
Hall effect.

Philip Kim
(1967–)

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Potential applications

´Solar cells
´Transistors
´Transparent
screens
´...

We have now completed the tour

of quantum Hall effect and
graphene.

Now let us pick up where we left

off, at the story of
superconductivity.

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Superconduvtivity

1965: the BCS theory of superconductivity

John Bardeen Leon N. Cooper John R. Schrieffer

(1908–1991) (1930–) (1931-2019)

Nobel Prize in Nobel Prize in Nobel Prize in

Physics 1972 Physics 1972 Physics 1972

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John Bardeen: the only person to have won

Nobel Prize in Physics twice

Nobel Prize portray (1956) Nobel Prize portray (1972)

“The idea of paired electrons, though not fully

accurate, captures the sense of it.”

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1986: Discovery of high-temperature

superconductors

J. Georg Bednorz K. Alexander Müller

(1950–) (1927–2023)
Nobel Prize in Nobel Prize in
Physics 1987 Physics 1987

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1987: Discovery of YBCO superconductors

Tc raised above 100K

Zhongxian Zhao Paul Ching-wu Chu Maw-Kuen Wu

赵忠贤 朱经武 吴茂昆
(1941–) (1941–) (1949–)
国家最高科学
技术奖 (2016)

the CuO2 plane

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Superconduvtivity

It turns out that the key to the

superconductivity is the “strong” electron-
electron correlations on the CuO2 plane

This has ignited the development of a

field called “strongly-correlated electron
systems”

A satisfactory theoretical description of

high-temperature superconductors
remains unknown and the field of strongly
correlated systems continues to be an
active research topic.

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2006: Discovery of iron-based

superconductors

Hideo Hosono Yoichi Kamihara

細野秀雄 神原陽一
(1953–) (?–)

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Chinese condensed matter physicists

made great contributions to the
development of iron-based
superdoncuctors

Xianhui Chen Zhongxian Zhao

陈仙辉 赵忠贤
(1963–) (1941–)

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Superconduvtivity

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The iron-based superconductors offer

scientists some hints on the microscopic
mechanism of superconductivity.

Nevertheless, they have probably

created more questions than answers.

The study of the electronic properties (in

particular the strong correlations) in the
iron-based superconductors is an active
research field today.

Potential applications of superconductors

´Power
transmission
´Maglev train
´hjgh magnetic
field
´...

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By now we have gotten some feeling

about the main topics of condensed
matter physics

But what are other active research

directions today?

Probably the easiest way is to look at the

recent awardees of the Nobel prize in
physics

2001 Nobel Prize in Physics

Eric A. Cornell Wolfgang Ketterle Carl E. Wieman

(1961–) (1957–) (1951–)
"for the achievement of Bose-Einstein condensation in
dilute gases of alkali atoms, and for early fundamental
studies of the properties of the condensates"

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“Cold Atoms”
Velocity-distribution data for a gas
of rubidium atoms, confirming the discovery
of a new phase of matter, the Bose–Einstein
condensate. Left: just before the appearance
of a Bose–Einstein condensate. Center:
just after the appearance of
the condensate. Right: after further
evaporation, leaving a sample of nearly pure
condensate.

2003 Nobel Prize in Physics

Alexei A. Abrikosov Vitaly L. Ginzburg Anthony J. Leggett

(1928–2017) (1916-2009) (1938–)

"for pioneering contributions to the theory of

superconductors and superfluids"

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2007 Nobel Prize in Physics

Albert Fert Peter Grünberg

(1938–) (1939-2018)

"for the discovery of Giant Magnetoresistance"

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2009 Nobel Prize in Physics

Charles Kuen Kao Willard S. Boyle George E. Smith

高錕 (1924-2011) (1930–)
(1933-2018)
one half awarded to Charles Kuen Kao "for groundbreaking achievements
concerning the transmission of light in fibers for optical communication", the
other half jointly to Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith "for the invention of
an imaging semiconductor circuit - the CCD sensor".

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2010 Nobel Prize in Physics

Andre Geim Konstantin Novoselov

(1958–) (1974-)

"for groundbreaking experiments regarding the

two-dimensional material graphene"

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2012 Nobel Prize in Physics

Serge Haroche David J. Wineland

(1944–) (1944-)
"for ground-breaking experimental methods that
enable measuring and manipulation of individual
quantum systems"

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2014 Nobel Prize in Physics

Isamu Akasaki Hiroshi Amano Shuji Nakamura

⾚崎 勇 天野 浩 中村 修⼆
(1929–2021) (1960-) (1954–)
"for the invention of efficient blue light-emitting diodes
which has enabled bright and energy-saving white
light sources"

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2016 Nobel Prize in Physics

F. Duncan M. J. Michael Kosterlitz

David J. Thouless
Haldane (1943–)
(1934–2019)
(1951-)
"for theoretical discoveries of topological phase
transitions and topological phases of matter"

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2022 Nobel Prize in Physics

Alain Aspect John F. Clauser Anton Zeilinger

(1947–) (1942–) (1945–)
“for experiments with entangled photons, establishing
the violation of Bell inequalities and pioneering
quantum information science”

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Since 2001, about half of the

Nobel prizes in physics have been
awarded to condensed matter
physicists

More than one third of all

physicists identify themselves as
condensed matter physicists

Probably, every single aspect of

your life is, in one way or another,
related to the principles of
condensed matter physics

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So why the name “Condensed Matter

Physics”?
Philip W. Anderson (1923-2020)
Nobel Prize in
Physics 1977

So why the name “Condensed Matter

Physics”?

´ There are so many ”condensed phases”:

´ Solids
´ Liquids
´ Superconducting phases
´ Ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic phases
´ Bose-Einstein condensates
´ topological phases
´ ...
´ Condensed matter physics is so interdisciplinary:
´ overlaps with chemistry, materials science, and nanotechnology
´ relates closely to atomic physics and biophysics
´ shares important theoretical concepts and methods with particle
physics and nuclear physics

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So why the name “Condensed Matter

Physics”?

´ Also, during the Cold War between 1960s and 1970s, it

is more important than ever for scientists to unite rather
than divide
´ The name “Condensed Matter Physics” reflects the
gigantically broad spectra of its research objects,
methodologies and applications

(1874-1965)
Nobel Prize in
Literature 1953

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