Solid State Physics

by Neil W. Ashcroft, N. David Mermin

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the field of solid state physics for undergraduate students in physics, chemistry, engineering, and materials science.

Genres: Physics, Science, Textbooks, Nonfiction, Mathematics, Reference, Engineering

826 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

Reviews

[DJ]

By far the best of the solid state textbooks I've found. Whereas Kittel hops from model to model with little explanation, Ashcroft devotes entire chapters to the merits and failings of the free electron gas, periodic potentials, mean field theory, and so on. In a field that can seem as arbitrary as the dating preferences of teenage girls, such clarifications are crucial.

Still, Ashcroft does assume a grasp of graduate-level quantum mechanics at times. There's fame, fortune, and wild and sexy physicist parties waiting for he or she who writes a great solid state text accessible to undergrads.

[Uau]

Better that Marder but still solid state physics. Does anyone know where I can find the solutions to the problems? Specially to the ones on chapter 22.

[Adam Lantos]

This textbook is very pedagogical. Contains thorough explanations and helpful illustrations. It is more verbose than your typical textbook, but nearly everything is explained in a clear way and the author knows when to clarify something.
This gave room to the author to include many of his insights, making this a gem. The authors are so determined to make the reader understand everything that they even include more than one proof for some theorems!

Even with so many modern textbooks on solid state physics coming out, this holds up very well.
(it is also much better than the other standard textbook used in solid state physics undergrad courses by Kittel)

[Jerimiah Lee]

I used this book in an undergraduate course, so we skipped over quite a few sections. It was very difficult to comprehend. I will have to come back and reread this sometime.

[Sara Banana]

He llorado en todas y cada una de las páginas (si apruebo le subo a 4 estrellas)

Edit: al final aprobé la asignatura de Física del Estado Sólido, todo gracias a este libro porque mis apuntes eran un desastre y no entendía nada. Gran libro

[Sol]

Construye conceptos relativamente complejos a partir de física fundamental y se explica muy bien en el proceso, así que es muy accesible para estudiantes con conocimientos básicos de cuántica. A simple vista pudiera parecer que no sintetice bien los conceptos, al ser un libro tan extenso, pero la realidad es que cubre muchos más de los temas necesarios en un curso de Física del Estado Sólido. Es magnífico como libro de consulta para cualquier tema introductorio de física del estado sólido anterior a los años 80.

La única pega es que el libro llega hasta donde llega, pero no le voy a pedir peras al olmo, ni es su objetivo ni es un texto actualizado.

Además, y aquí está el punto de vista más subjetivo de la reseña, cuenta con la ventaja de describir una rama de la física muy bonita :)

[Padelis Dallas]

Πολύ καλό βιβλίο για προπτυχιακούς, ειδικά για κρυσταλλικά πλέγματα bravais κλπ

[Lukas Primahatva]

This book is legendary in the field of solid state physics. A must for those who want to do research in condensed matter physics.

[lucas]

goat de materia condensada mas o simon's tb e fixe

[Dariya]

a little outdated

[Tim Robinson]

This is not a book to be read through in a single sitting! But I did learn a couple of things. Firstly the face centred cubic lattice and the body centred cubic lattice are duals of each other . Secondly, the famous “electron gas” which explains so much about metals (to within an order of magnitude) is very different from a classical gas not because the electrons have electric charge, but because electrons are fermions. This forces all the electrons to have different velocities and that means on average they move a hundred times as fast as you might expect, and this is largely independent of temperature.

[Bikash Kanungo]

A lifetime friend for any condensed matter physicist. The sequence of the topics appears to be very thoughtful. Every mathematical result or theory is supported with physical insight and exercise problems. There are some subtleties hidden in long paragraphs or graphs, so it demands the reader to be observant. I personally have felt that I got a good handle of things and made connections with previous concepts after going through the topics for the second time. The exercises are meticulously designed to highlight the validity of the assumptions and to elucidate some pathological cases.

[Tim]

Only one edition was made some forty years ago and it's still a go-to book for people in my field.

[Lynn]

This is a classic and with good reason. Getting a bit old nowadays, but it's still really good.

[Nick Black]

MUST LEARN SOLID-STATE PRIOR TO PHD OR WILL DIE

[Aftab Khan]

great

[Sara Ghotb]

For condensed matter physicists, this is an indispensable resource.