M2_S1_MIM

Materials Investigation Methods: experiments and modelling

Course Description

Apogée code: MU5PYM05 Number of credits: 6 Teaching hours: 40h + 20h courses

• Lecturers: “Exp.” Part

  • Delphine CABARET (coordinator) IMPMC– 23‐24 – 427 delphine.cabaret@sorbonne‐universite.fr
  • Paola GIURA IMPMC – 23‐13 – 413
  • Marie D’ANGELO INSP ‐22‐32 – 213
  • Nicolas MENGUY IMPMC – 23‐24 – 412
  • Dimitri RODITCHEV LPEM‐ESPCI

• Lecturers: “Modelling” part

  • Marco SAITTA (coordinator) IMPMC – 23‐24 ‐ 309 marco.saitta@sorbonne‐universite.fr
  • Fabio PIETRUCCI IMPMC – 23‐24 – 304
  • Guillaume FERLAT IMPMC – 23‐24 – 423

Objectives

This course introduces experimental and theoretical methods for materials properties investigation from the physicist point of view. The goals are the following:

• to provide the graduate student, whether more experimentalist or more theoretician, a good knowledge and comprehension of the physics behind the experimental and theoretical approaches currently used in materials science
• to make the graduate student capable to define and carry out experimental/theoretical protocols to address a scientific problem in materials science
• to provide a strong physical background for the practical works that are carried out in the LabS teaching unit

Content

• Description of the probes experimentally used to investigate materials properties (photons from infra‐red to hard X-rays, electrons and thermal neutrons); presentation of the light‐matter interactions including the connections between microscopic mechanisms and macroscopic responses; interaction cross sections, electronic transition selection rules, angular dependence
• Presentation of the following experimental methods, dedicated to studies of structural, electronic and vibrational properties of materials (bulk crystals, nanosized materials, surfaces, ...):
  • x‐ray and neutrons diffraction, transmission electron microscopy and spectroscopy
  • IR absorption spectroscopy, Raman and Brillouin scattering, x-ray and neutron inelastic scattering
  • photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS, UPS, ARPES)
  • scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy (STM/STS)
• Description of the theoretical methods used to model/predict materials properties (ab initio vs classical):
  • Density Functional Theory (DFT), Density Functional Perturbation Theory (DFPT),
  • Statistical sampling and thermodynamics, Metadynamics
  • Atomistic simulations (Monte Carlo and Molecular Dynamics simulations)

Prerequisites

• Geometrical crystallography: lattice points and motif, lattice systems, Bravais lattices, conventional crystal cells, crystallographic point groups, space groups, Miller indices, crystal direction, lattice plane, Bragg planes, reciprocal lattice, Brillouin zone, etc.
• Maxwell equations, quantum mechanics and atomic physics (time‐dependent perturbation theory, Fermi golden rule, harmonic oscillator, second quantization, Dirac and Schrödinger representations, spherical harmonics, kinetic moments coupling), statistical mechanics

Examination

• “Exp.” Part: final written examination
• “Modelling” part: final written examination