Product Description

The study of the electronic structure of materials is at a momentous stage, with the emergence of new computational methods and theoretical approaches. This volume provides an introduction to the field and describes its conceptual framework, the capabilities of present methods, limitations, and challenges for the future. Many properties of materials can now be determined directly from the fundamental equations of quantum mechanics, bringing new insights into critical problems in physics, chemistry, and materials science.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #265216 in Books
• Published on: 2004-04-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 648 pages

Review
'The book places electronic structure in the context of elementary issues in physics, while at the same time emphasising its role in providing useful information on the properties of materials ... unified exposition of the basic theory and methods of electronic structure, together with instructive examples of practical computational methods and actual applications ... aim is to serve graduate students and scientists involved in research while acting as supplementary material for courses on condensed matter physics and material science ... Examples of problems are included in each chapter to bring out salient points and challenge the reader.' Materials World

About the Author
Richard Martin is Professor of Physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is a recipient of the Alexander von Humboldt Senior Scientist Award, and is a fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has served on several editorial boards of the APS, including Physical Review and Physical Review Letters, and Reviews of Modern Physics where he was associate editor for condensed matter theory.

Customer Reviews

Outstanding
This book was recommended to me to help me in my research, and has turned out to be one of the best recommendations I have ever received. This is a great book; by far the best I have come across on the topic of computing the properties of condensed phase materials by quantum mechanical simulations. Here are the reasons why.

1. The chapters are well laid out and one chapter flows neatly to the next.

2. The math is kept to a minimum; the author makes a point of communicating important principles and ideas in concise sentences without resorting to derivations. This is ideal for engineers like me; who by training do not know that much math as compared to physicists who specialize in the solid state.

3. Important ideas are clarified up front. Many texts will lead the reader through long and windy paths of proofs and logic before arriving at the conclusion; thereby losing their reader in the process. Not here; important points are stated clearly at the beginning and at the end of each section.

4. Compare, contrast, and context. There are many ideas, models, approximations, and theorems that have been developed in the past century related to electronic structure. Many of these are closely related to each other in their inspiration, derivation, practice, and/or applications. This book makes the connections between the different concepts. For a non-expert reading through the electronic structure literature, terms like APW, OPW, PAW, LAPW, LMTO, etc... can be quite confusing if not placed within an overriding context. This book provides that context.

5. Good use of appendices. Electronic structure is a lot like politics; most practicioners in either field did not receive formal educations in the subject, but instead got into it under the apprenticeship of other people. This is reflected by a lot of literature by those who succeeded in the field; most of it good in showing of the authors' achievements, but generally useless in preparing the next generation of practicioners. For electronic structure, this is manifested by the many books that require prior knowledge of quantum, thermo, crystallography, mat sci, etc.. In effect, these books were written by experts to be read by other experts. Not this book. Basic ideas are kept in the text; and specific proofs and derivations are kept in the appendices. The result is a text that is much easier to read than most others.

6. The book is concept driven; not application driven. Most texts in materials simulations are actually a compilation of chapters written independently by multiple authors. Each chapter might be given a general title; but the text will be bias towards the research of its authors. For example, a chapter on surface calculations might focus entirely on adsorption, or relaxation/reconstruction, or optical properties; but surely not touching all these subjects. This book does not do this; each chapter is driven by basic concepts, and one concept leads to the next.

In all, this is a great textbook and a handy reference book. I highly recommend it.