A First Acquaintance with Condensed Matter

Summary

Various kinds of condensed matter are mentioned, and bonding types are briefly presented. The most common crystal structures are described. Wave eigenfunctions in periodic media, such as a crystalline solid, are characterized by a phase, ${\o} = k \cdot r$, and an amplitude of the same periodicity as the underlying medium, according to the so-called Bloch’s theorem; ħk is called crystal momentum and its physical content remains unaffected by the addition of ħG, where G is any vector of the so-called reciprocal lattice. In the latter, Bragg planes and Brillouin zones are defined.