UNIVERSITY OF LONDON

BSc and MSci EXAMINATION 2002

For Internal Students of Royal Holloway

DO NOT TURN OVER UNTIL TOLD TO BEGIN

PH3730A: MODERN TOPICS OF CONDENSED MATTER

Time Allowed: TWO hours

Answer THREE questions No credit will be given for attempting any further questions

Approximate part-marks for questions are given in the right-hand margin

Only CASIO fx85WA Calculators are permitted

PH3730A/23 Royal Holloway and Bedford New College 2002

GENERAL PHYSICAL CONSTANTS Permeability of vacuum Permittivity of vacuum 0 0 1/4 0 Speed of light in vacuum Elementary charge Electron (rest) mass Unified atomic mass constant Proton rest mass Neutron rest mass Ratio of electronic charge to mass Planck constant c e me mu mp mn e/me h h = h/2 Boltzmann constant Stefan-Boltzmann constant Gas constant Avogadro constant Gravitational constant Acceleration due to gravity Volume of one mole of an ideal gas at STP One standard atmosphere P0 k R NA G g = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 4 10-7 8.85 10-12 9.0 109 3.00 108 1.60 10-19 9.11 10-31 1.66 10-27 1.67 10-27 1.67 10-27 1.76 1011 6.63 10-34 1.05 10-34 1.38 10-23 5.67 10-8 8.31 6.02 1023 6.67 10-11 9.81 2.24 10-2 1.01 105 H m-1 F m-1 m F-1 m s-1 C kg kg kg kg C kg-1 Js Js J K-1 W m-2 K-4 J mol-1 K-1 mol-1 N m2 kg-2 m s-2 m3 N m-2

MATHEMATICAL CONSTANTS e 2.718 3.142 loge10 2.303

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PH3730A
PART MARKS

1.

(a)

Describe the principles and methods of the Laue, rotating crystal, and powder crystal diffraction techniques. What investigations are each of these techniques used for? Define the fundamental reciprocal lattice vectors for a crystal lattice with primitive lattice vectors a, b, c. Why is the reciprocal lattice important in crystallography? Describe the Ewald spheres construction and show that it is equivalent to Bragg s law being satisfied. Comment on the sizes of Ewald spheres relative to typical reciprocal lattice spacings for 10keV X-rays and 100keV electrons.

[6]

(b)

[4] [4]

(c)

[2]

(d)

A collimated X-ray beam strikes a single crystal having a primitive cubic lattice with a lattice constant a=4 (0.4nm) in [100] direction. How many non-zero order reflections can be observed in (001) plane, if the Xray beam has a continuum of wavelengths in the range from 2 to 4 . How many of them are degenerate (formed by two or more different diffracted beams going in the same direction)?

[4]

2.

(a)

Draw a schematic diagram of a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Explain the operation of the main components. How does the resolution of an SEM compare with that of an optical microscope and of a scanning tunnelling microscope (STM)? [7] An atomic force microscope (AFM) uses a cantilever with a spring constant 0.1 N/m and a mass load 10-11 kg. At what frequency will the AFM operate in tapping mode? Set down three advantages of the tapping mode compared to contact mode? [3] Using the functional dependence, IT ~ exp(-2 r), of the tunnelling current on the sample-tip distance, r, estimate the vertical resolution of an STM. [Use a value of 4eV for the height of the tunnel barrier between the tip and the sample.] Estimate the lateral resolution of the STM approximating tip as a sphere of radius 100 (10nm).[In both parts of this section, use for the criterion for resolution change in IT by e2, where e 2.718].

(b)

(c)

[2]

[3]

(d)

An AFM cantilever with a spring constant k moves in the medium characterized by friction force F=-bv, where b constant and v tip velocity. Find a small shift in the resonant angular frequency, 0, of the cantilever due to the damping by the medium.

[5]

TURN OVER

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PH3730A
PART MARKS

3.

(a) (b) (c)

Describe what is meant by the Larmor precession of nuclear magnetization, and the equations of motion which lead to it. Briefly discuss the importance of the rotating frame of reference in NMR. A sample containing water is placed in a magnetic field of 2 T, directed along the z-axis. Calculate the required frequency and amplitude of a pulse of radio frequency magnetic field, directed along x and of duration 200 cycles, in order to tip the proton magnetization from equilibrium through 90 . Referring to the following parameters, discuss quantitatively the decay of the transverse magnetization, and determine how long the z component of the magnetization takes to recover to 95% of its equilibrium value. For protons in this sample T2 = 10 ms, T1 = 10s, and the variation in the static magnetic field over the sample is 0.01%. The gyromagnetic ratio of the proton is /2= 42.6 MHz/T.

[6] [4]

[5]

(d)

[5]

4.

(a)

Explain in detail the formation of a spin-echo. Include in your discussion a description of the required NMR pulse sequence and explain how this method is used to measure the intrinsic spin-spin relaxation time T2. Discuss briefly the meaning of the term motional narrowing. By considering a model in which the local dipolar field fluctuates randomly between limits Bloc with characteristic time , show that
2 T2 = ( Bloc2 ) 1

[8] [4]

(b) (c)

Using this result, estimate the T2 protons in tissue, which is mostly water, with characteristic time = 0.1 ns. The gyromagnetic ratio of the proton is /2= 42.6 MHz/T. The nuclear magnetic moment of the proton is 2.8 N. where the nuclear magneton N = 5.05 x 10 27 J T 1. (d) Briefly discuss the relevance of these results in the previous parts of the question to medical applications of Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

[6] [2]

TURN OVER

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PH3730A
PART MARKS

5.

(a)

Sketch the conduction band edge of a GaAs-AlGaAs heterostructure, where modulation doping is used to create a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG). A 2DEG of electron density 2x1015 m-2 is formed at a heterostructure 800 below the semiconductor surface, on which is deposited a large area gate that covers the whole of the Hall bar. Modelling the gate and 2DEG as the two plates of a capacitor, calculate the change in carrier density when the gate voltage is ramped from 0 to 0.1 V. Assume a uniform relative permittivity, = 13, throughout the semiconductor structure. The mobility of the 2DEG described above is = 200 m2/Vs. Calculate the elastic mean free path. Show that the conductance of a ballistic one-dimensional channel is quantised in integer multiples of 2e2/h at low temperatures. State briefly the relationship between ballistic quantisation and the quantum Hall effect. [The density of states for a 2D electron gas in zero magnetic field is 2m * 1 4 m* g2D (E ) = , and for a 1D electron gas g1D ( E ) = ]. h2 h E

[4]

(b)

[4]

(c) (d) (e)

[4] [5]

[3]

6.

(a)

Calculate the following fundamental electron characteristics: De Broglie wave length, F ,of electrons at the Fermi surface The elastic mean free path The phase breaking length Total distance electrons travel between phase breaking collisions for a conductor with the elastic scattering rate of electrons -1=1014 s-1, the phase breaking rate, -1 =5 1010 s-1 and the Fermi velocity of electrons vF=2 106 m/s. The conductor has the shape of a strip with the dimension of Lx =10 nm in the direction of electrical current, and Ly =200 nm and Lz =3 nm in the transverse directions. [3] [2] [4] [2]

(b)

Describe qualitatively the dependence of the weak localisation effect in this conductor on the angle between a magnetic field and the y-axis, with the field applied perpendicular to the x-axis What is the dependence of the period, B, of the Aharonov-Bohm oscillations in the conductance of a mesoscopic loop on the angle, , between the magnetic field and the normal to the plane of the loop? Calculate the ratio of periods for 1 = 0 and 2 = / 3

[5]

(c)

[4]

END

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