(90 hours of practicals)

Objectives:

• Recall the basic laboratory skills 
• Improve skills on experimental measurements in optics, electromagnetism and electronics
• Design and present content-oriented attractive posters

Course Description: 

• Students have to attend weekly practical sessions each of three hours duration
• Students will be trained on preparing and presenting good scientific posters
• On completion of each weekly experiment, students should submit a brief report
• During each semester, students have to submit two full reports on experiments chosen by the lecturer in-charge

Evaluation:

Recommended Readings:

• J.F. James, An Introduction to Practical Laboratory Optics, Cambridge University Press (2014)
• Yaakov Kraftmakher, Experiments and Demonstrations in Physics (2^nd edition), World Scientific (2014)
• G.L. Squires, Practical Physics (4^th edition), Cambridge University Press (2001)

(30 hours of lectures and tutorials)

Objectives: 

• Distinguish various types of bonds between atoms and the structures of crystals
• Explain elastic, thermal and electrical properties of matter
• Classify insulators, semiconductors and conductors

Syllabus:

Structure of matter:

• Nature of matter, charge to mass ratio of electrons, mass spectrograph, determination of the electron charge,crystals, types of crystals, crystal structures, unit cells, FCC, BCC and HCP structures, crystal defects, X-ray diffraction, nuclear mass and radius, nuclear particles, isotopes, isobars.

Inter-atomic forces:

• Molecules and binding forces, Van der Waals, ionic, covalent and metallic bonds.

Elastic and thermal properties of solids:

• Monoatomic and diatomic linear chains, boundary conditions, phonon density of states, heat capacity of solids, Debye model, thermal expansion, Grüneisenparameter,thermal conductivity of insulators, phonon-phonon scattering (normal and umklapp), scattering by defects, scattering at boundaries.

Electrical properties:

• Free electron model of metals, qualitative introduction to band theory of solids, metals, semiconductors and insulators, electrons and holes, intrinsic and extrinsic semiconductors, donors and acceptors, p-n junctions.

Evaluation: 

Recommended Readings: 

• C. Kittel, Introduction to Solid State Physics (8^th edition), Wiley(2004)
• M.A. Wahab, Solid State Physics: Structure and Properties of Materials (2^nd edition), Alpha Science International Ltd. (2005)
• M.A. Omar, Elementary Solid State Physics: Principles and Applications (4^th edition), Addison-Wesley (1994)

(30 hours of lectures and tutorials)

 Objectives: 

• Illustrate the basic principles of geometrical optics
• Explain interference, diffraction and polarization
• Utilize the concepts of special relativity in physics problems

 Syllabus:

Ray Optics:

• Huygen’s principle, spherical mirrors, thick and thin lenses, lens combinations, lens aberration, eye pieces, telescope, microscope.

Interference:

• Wave nature of light, two beam interference on non-reflecting films, Michelson interferometer, Rayleigh refractometer, multiple beam interference, Fabry–Perot interferometer and its chromatic resolving power, interference filters.

FraunhÖfer diffraction: 

• Single slit diffraction, chromatic resolving power of a prism, resolving power of telescopes and microscopes. 
• Double slit diffraction, Michelson’s stellar interferometer, multiple slit diffraction, diffraction and reflection gratings, chromatic resolving power of gratings, echelon gratings.

Fresnel diffraction: 

• Diffraction at a straight edge, diffraction at circular apertures and obstacles, the zone plate.

Polarization: 

• Polarization by absorption, polarization by reflection, scattering and double refraction, properties of ordinary and extra-ordinary rays, quarter wave and half wave plates, interference of polarized light.

Special theory of relativity:

• Invariance of the velocity oflight in vacuumand its experimental confirmation, Einstein’s postulates, Lorentz transformation of space and time co-ordinates,time dilation, length contraction and their experimental confirmations, transformation of velocities, mass-velocity and mass-energy relationships, transformation of momentum and energy, simple applications of special relativity.

Evaluation:    

Recommended Readings: 

•     F.A. Jenkins and H.E. White, Fundamentals of Optics (4^th edition), McGraw-Hill (1976)
•     N. Subrahmanyam, B.V. Lal and M.N. Avadhanulu, A Textbook of Optics, S. Chand and Co. Ltd. (2006)
•     A.P.French, Special Relativity, The MIT Introductory Physics Series, W.W. Norton and Company (1968)

(30 hours of lectures and tutorials) 

Objectives:

• Recall basic mathematics required to formulate electromagnetic theory
• Apply Maxwell’s equations in problems related to electro-statics and magneto-statics
• Make use of electromagnetic theory to solve problems in changing electromagnetic fields
   

Syllabus:

Electrostatics: 

• Coulomb’s law, electric field (E) and potential (V), Gauss’s law in vacuum, Laplace’s and Poisson’s equation, electric dipoles, uniqueness theorems, conducting sphere in electric field, the method of images: point charge near conducting sphere and line charge near conducting cylinder as examples, capacitance of parallel cylinders, work and energy in electrostatics, force on a charged conductor.
• Isotropic dielectrics, polarization charges, Gauss’s law in dielectric, permittivity and susceptibility, properties of electric displacement (D) and electric field (E),boundary conditions at dielectric boundaries, relationship betweenelectric field (E) and polarization (P), thin slab in electric field, dielectric sphere in an electric field, local fields inside dielectrics, Clausius-Mossotti equation.

Magnetostatics: 

• Forces between current carrying elements, Gauss’s law, dipoles, magnetic scalar potential, Ampère’s law, magnetic vector potential.
• Magnetic media, magnetization, permeability and magnetic susceptibility, properties of magnetic field (B) and magnetic field intensity (H), boundary conditions at surfaces, methods of calculating B and H, magnetisable sphere in a uniform magnetic field, electromagnets, magnetic circuits, diamagnetism, paramagnetism, ferromagnetism, Curie-Weiss law, domains, hysteresis, permanent magnets.

Time varying EM fields: 

• Electromagnetic induction, Faraday’s law, magnetic energy, self-inductance, inductance of a long solenoid,coaxial cylinders, parallel cylinders, mutual inductance, transformers, displacement current, Maxwell’s equations, electromagnetic waves.

Evaluation:

Recommended Readings: 

• D. J. Griffiths, Introduction to Electrodynamics (4^th edition), Addition-Wesley (2012)
• R.P. Feynman,R. B. Leighton and M. Sands, The Feynman Lectures on Physics, VolII, Addison-Wesley (1964)
• W.J. Duffin, Electricity and Magnetism (4^th edition),McGraw-Hill(1973)

(20 hours of lectures and 30 hours of practicals)

Objectives: 

• Outline the features of Matlab/C⁺⁺
• Apply numerical methods in solving physics problems
• Design algorithms to simulate physics problems
   

 Syllabus: 

Introduction: 

• Programming languages and algorithms, scientific software libraries.

Programming: 

• Scientific programming in Matlab/C⁺⁺.

Numerical methods with programming exercises in Matlab/C⁺⁺: 

• Root finding, solving linear systems by direct and iterative methods, interpolation and extrapolation, differentiation and integration, curve fitting, matrices and eigenvalue problems, linear and nonlinear equations, eigen-systems, solution of ordinary differential equations, elementary statistics, Fourier transforms.

Computer simulation of the physics problems: 

• The motion of falling objects, two body problems, mini solar system, two body scattering, harmonic oscillator, electric circuit oscillator, electric field due to a charge distribution.

Evaluation:

Theory:    

Practical: 

Weightage: Theory (75%) and Practical (25%)

Recommended Readings:

• Stormy Attaway, MATLAB, A Practical Introduction to Programming and Problem Solving (3^rd edition), Elsevier Inc. (2013)
• P.L. Devries and J.E. Hasbun, A First Course in Computational Physics (2^nd edition), Jones and Barlett Publishers (2011)
• B.R. Hunt, R.L. Lipsmanand J.M. Rosenberg, A Guide to MATLAB for Beginners and Experienced Users (3^rd edition), Cambridge University Press (2014)

(30 hours of lectures and tutorials)

Objectives:

• Relate mathematical techniques with physics problems
• Utilize vector and matrix analyses in physics
• Apply special functions in solving problems of quantum mechanics and electrodynamics

Syllabus:

Vector analysis:

• Introductiontovector algebra, vector calculus and their applications in Physics.

Co-ordinate systems: 

• Curvilinear co-ordinates and special co-ordinate systems, differential vector operations, separation of variables and their applications in Physics

Matrices:

• Matrix methods of solving simultaneous equations, properties of  Hermitian, unitary, Pauli and Diracmatrices; diagonalization of matrices, matrix representation of eigenvalue problems, matrix representation of kets, bras and operators and their applications in quantum mechanics.

Differential equations: 

• Introductionto the method of solving first order differential equations, partial differential equations and their applications in solving physics problems.

Special functions: 

• BesselandHankelfunctions, Green functions, Hermite, Legendre and other special polynomial functions and their use in solving physics problems.

Integral transforms: 

• Introduction to Fourier and inverse Fourier transforms, use of Fourier transformin quantum mechanics to relate wavefunctions in real and momentum spaces, Introduction to Laplace transform and its applications in physics.

Evaluation:    

Recommended Readings:

• Jordan and Smith, Mathematical Techniques (4^th edition), Oxford University press(2008).
• Mary L. Boas, Mathematical Methods in the Physical Sciences (3^rd edition), John Wiley and Sons (2005).
• Chun Wa Wong, Introduction to Mathematical Physics: Methods and Concepts (2^nd edition), Oxford University Press (2013).