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Phys 460 Homework # 4

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Due Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2006

  1. Kittel, Problem 3-8.
  2. Kittel, Problem 4-2. To answer this, show that the expressions for an atomic vibration involving differences go over to derivative expressions in the limit of long waves.
  3. Kittel, Problem 4-3
  4. Kittel, Problem 4-5. Give your results in terms of C and the mass M.
  5. Calculate the speed of sound for a longitudinal wave propagating in a [100] direction for two cases: diamond carbon and gold. Use the elastic constants any any other needed information given in the text.
  6. Consider a simple cubic crystal with lattice constant a and one atom per cell of mass M. Assume the atoms interact with nearest-neighbor forces phi(R) with second derivative C = phi''. Answer the questions below in terms of a, M, and C.
    A. Give expression for the elastic constant C11 and the bulk modulus B.
    B. Give the expression for the longitudinal sound velocity v in the [100] direction in terms of the appropriate elastic constant.
    C. Give the expression for the dispersion curve omega(k) for longitudinal motion as a function of wavevector k in the [100] direction. Show that this leads to a velocity of sound in agreement with part B and give the expression for the frequency omegaBZ for k at the boundary of the Brillouin zone.
    D. Find values of each of the quantities C11, B, v, and omegaBZ, for the case where M = mass of the Al atom, a = 0.286 nm (the nearest-neigh. distance in Al given in Kittel), and an estimate of C = 100 eV/nm2 (This is a very crude estimate of phi'' based upon the idea that displacement of an atom by 0.1 nm should change the energy by of order 1 eV.)
    E. Even though Al does not form the simple cubic structure and the value of C is a crude estimate, the results should be of the same order of magnitude as in real Al. Compare C11 and B with the actual values for Al given in Kittel.
  7. In Figure 11 (chapter 4) of Kittel, are shown the measured dispersion curves of Na, which has the bcc structure. It is a good approximation to assume the interaction phi(R) acts only between nearest neighbors.
    A. From the value of the longitudinal frequency at the zone boundary in the [100] direction, find the value of the second derivative phi''. (Note that you must treat Na as bcc and the neighbors are not oriented along the [100] direction.)
    B. Give the expression for the dispersion curve for transverse motion (k in the [100] direction, displacement in the [010] direction) using the value of phi'' from part A. What is the value of the frequency at the Brillouin zone boundary?

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