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Assignment 1

This document contains 3 questions from a condensed matter physics assignment. (1) It asks to show that the phonon heat capacity of a layered crystal lattice is proportional to T^2 at low temperatures, due to the restricted motion of atoms to the plane of each layer. (2) It asks to derive an expression for the free energy of a phonon mode with frequency ω, retaining the zero-point energy term. (3) It asks to use the bosonic nature of photons to calculate the photon energy density and specific heat in a cavity, and then estimates the temperature at which photon and phonon contributions to heat capacity would be equal for a given dielectric solid.

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Pragya Yadav
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250 views1 page

Assignment 1

This document contains 3 questions from a condensed matter physics assignment. (1) It asks to show that the phonon heat capacity of a layered crystal lattice is proportional to T^2 at low temperatures, due to the restricted motion of atoms to the plane of each layer. (2) It asks to derive an expression for the free energy of a phonon mode with frequency ω, retaining the zero-point energy term. (3) It asks to use the bosonic nature of photons to calculate the photon energy density and specific heat in a cavity, and then estimates the temperature at which photon and phonon contributions to heat capacity would be equal for a given dielectric solid.

Uploaded by

Pragya Yadav
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Phy543 : Condensed Matter Physics Assignment 1.

Q1. Heat capacity of layer lattice. (a) Consider a crystal made up of layers of atoms, with rigid coupling between layers so that the motion of the atoms is restricted to the plane of the layer. Show that the phonon heat capacity in the Debye approximation in the low temperature limit is proportional to T2.

Q2. Show that the free energy of a phonon mode of frequency is

1 k BT ln 2sinh ( It is necessary to retain the zero-point energy to 2 2


obtain this result.) Q3. Using the fact that photons are bosons with dispersion relation = ck, show that photon
energy density in a cavity is

U 2 = (k BT ) 4 ; and hence calculate the photon specific heat (per unit volume). 3 3 V 15 c
(b) Using the result from the above situation Consider a dielectric solid with a Debye temperature equal to 100K and with 1022 atoms/cm3. Estimate the temperature at which the photon contribution to the heat capacity would be equal to the phonon contribution evaluated at 1K.

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