6.730  Physics for Solid-State Applications

Since a lot of people asked, I decide to relent and make solutions for the practice final. They're posted, but I would still recommend you do the practice final without looking at them.

Also, to clarify yesterday's announcement, "open-book" means that you can bring anything that you want that's on paper.

Best,
David

Just so everyone knows, Qing decided to make the final open-book now. It still might be useful to make a quick reference for yourself as a review, though.

-David

Just to remind everyone, today's lecture will be mostly on the board and not on slides.

-David

Hi everyone,

Several things have been uploaded to Stellar.

1. Problem Set 8 and its solutions. Once again, note that it's not due but is a pretty good review of the BTE portion of the class.
2. A document I made to help you prepare for the final.
3. A partially-redacted version of an old final that you can use for practice. (Some of the multiple-choice questions have been removed.)
   

A few words about the final. We've decided to make the final open-book, and you won't need a calculator. Since it's at 9:00 in the morning, I'll bring donuts and coffee or something. Though you'll have three hours to do it the exam will be designed to take an hour and a half, and so obviously the problems are going to be simpler than the projects. For example, for phononic and electronic systems, I would make sure you understand how to setup the dynamical and reduced Hamiltonian matrices of simple systems, and how to calculate physical properties from them. For scattering-type problems, I would make sure you understand how to interpret scattering rates and how to calculate things like relaxation rates.

In addition to my usual office hours on Wednesday, I'll be holding a special session on Sunday the 18th from 3:00 to 6:00 pm in the RLE Allen room (36-462). Once again, it might behoove you to let me know in advance if there's a general topic you want me to cover; otherwise I'll just be speaking off the cuff.

On a final note, Qing asked me to mention that the course evaluations are now open. You can access them here: http://web.mit.edu/subjectevaluation . Please do them when you get a chance.

Best,
David

A few announcements:

1. Problem Set 8 will be uploaded on Friday along with its solutions. It won't actually be due, but we suggest you do it since it's a good review of the BTE part of the class.
2. We scheduled the make-up final for next Friday the 16th at 10 am in the Allen room (36-462). If you need to take it then, please let me know.
3. The last lecture of the class will be a review covering all of the material. I'll also have my normal office hours next Wednesday evening (6-8 pm in 26-328), and if any of you have specific content you'd like me to cover then it would be best if you asked me in advance so I can prepare something if a lot of people are confused about the same thing.
   

Best,
David