Course syllabus

Course-PM: Welcome to the course Quantum Engineering

FKA132 Quantum engineering lp1 HT19 (7.5 hp). The course is offered by the department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience and starts at 10:00 on Tuesday, September 3, 2019, in room A820 (Fasrummet) at MC2.

An overview of  information about the FKA132 course is available on a compressed course-PM document.

People and contact details

• Examinator and physics lecturer: Per Hyldgaard, MC2, hyldgaar_AT_chalmers.se
  
• Chemistry lecturer and recitation leader: Martin Rahm, Chemistry, martin.rahm_AT_chalmers.se
  
• Chemistry lecturer and recitation leader: Jerker Mårtensson, Chemistry,  jerker@chalmers.se
• Physics-project advisor and recitation leader: Carl Frostenson, MC2, carl.frostenson_AT_chalmers.se
  
• Chemistry-project advisor: Hilda Sandström, hildasa_AT_chalmers.se

 

Course purpose

This Quantum Engineering course is given to provide knowledge that electrical engineers, material
scientists, physicists, and chemists need as they enter the field of nanoscale physics and technology.

 

Schedule

TimeEdit

Course literature

The course material will consist of (parts of) four main course books plus background text books. Additional material are handed out or are available from the course home page. All four main course books are available from the Chalmers library; in almost all cases in the form of electronic books (pdf-files), once you are registered at Chalmers. The same is true for the background books mentioned below. You may not need to buy the paper version of the text book as we will only be using parts of the books and our own lecture notes are posted and will be posted here on the canvas webpage of the course.

 

The main course books are:

Physics: parts of Y. B. Band and Y. Avishai: Quantum Mechanics with applications to nanotechnology and information science, Elsevier and for the physics project: parts of D. M. Sullivan: Quantum Mechanics for Electrical Engineers, IEEE and Wiley.

Chemistry: Chapter 13 of Raymond Chang: Physical Chemistry for the Chemical Sciences and parts of E.V. Anslyn and D. A. Dougherty: Modern Physical Organic Chemistry, University science.

For background/support on notes on the quantum language, we direct attention to either one of these books:

R. B Griffith: Consistent Quantum Theory, Cambridge University Press, 2001 (chapters 3-5 on Dirac notation) or J.J. Sakurai: Modern Quantum Mechanics, Addison-Wesley, 1994 (chapter 1) or A.F.J. Levi: Applied Quantum Mechanics, Cambridge University Press, 2006 (chapter 5).

We mention that S.M. Lindsay: Introduction to Nanoscience, Oxford University Press, gives a nice overview of the cross-disciplinary field of nanoscience.

Also, we do recommend that you invest in (in order of priority) Nordling and Österman: Physics Handbook and Råde and Westergren: Mathematics Handbook (for example, available from the Chalmers book store or second hand). These will be useful throughout your study and many students at Chalmers have them (meaning that some teachers will assume that you have them). Any version will do, even decade old ones. However, keep them clean, except for very obvious typos: they may be allowed at the written exam for this course and for other Chalmers courses -- but only if kept clean!

Course design

The course consist of Physics and Chemistry lectures (generally 3 double-hour sessions per week) plus Physics and Chemistry recitations (generally 1 double-hour session per week). 

In addition the course has both a physics and a chemistry project. Both are computational and you have access to a supervisor for the project work.  Completion of two project reports is mandatory. Also, assuming the project reports are handed in in time, they give you bonus points that can possibly raise your final  grade. This bonus is only available if you  get an actual passing grade at the written exam.

The physics learning is organized into 6 areas with associated lectures and exercises. Please see the individual physics modules. There are and will be lecture notes for each physics and chemistry lecture. Notes reflecting the planned-lecture context will be available at least the day before the lecture (but may be updated). You should study those before the lecture.

The chemistry learning is organized in Concepts, with a reading plan summarized here. Again, notes are and will generally be available ahead of the lecture and should study those.

The suggested focus for the recitations will be posted on this learning platform the day before, and you should also regularly check for updates.

Course organization: please see list of lectures, recitations, and project-introduction sessions and project-report deadlines.

Finally, we mention some useful advise for studying, for preparing for the exam, and in general, "Ten rules of Good (and Bad) Studying," available under Stanford's "Tomorrows Professor" collection, https://tomprof.stanford.edu/posting/1346 .

 

Changes made since the last occasion

Generally the focus this year is getting canvas to work. As is also summarized on the compressed course-PM document, we have again two chemistry teachers and we keep (from last year) the learning flow in three stages: 1) Quantum Physics by wavefunctions, 2) Chemistry, and 3) Quantum Physics by the more powerful second-quantization formations.

 

Learning objectives and syllabus

The goal of the course is to give students theoretical and technical skills to use quantum theory as tool in their continued studies and research. After completing the course in Quantum Engineering the student will have: acquired familiarity with basic tools of quantum mechanics, practical skills in solving standard quantum mechanical problems, understood and applied concepts of quantum tunneling, understood and used second quantization for the harmonic oscillator, gained numerical skills in treating scattering off and transmission through barriers, use the Lewis model of chemical bonding, apply valence bond and molecular orbital theory to common bonding situations in organic chemistry, and predict the structure of and the electron distribution in organic molecules.

The emphasis is on a practical approach to quantum mechanics rather than a formal treatment. Topics covered, either in depth or less stringent, include:

- Basic quantum theory for model potentials and barriers

- Basic theory of quantum transport

- Lewis structures – the language of chemistry

- Chemical bonding and molecular structure

- Quantum description of molecules & materials: Approximation/advanced computational methods

- The origin of intermolecular interactions and their role in the formation of molecular clusters

- Harmonic oscillator, coherent states and second quantization

- Time-independent and time-dependent perturbation theory

- Electrons in magnetic fields, spin

- Many-particle theory, quantum statistics, fermions and bosons

- Graphene and layered materials

 

Link to the syllabus on Studieportalen:

Study plan

Examination form

The final grade will be based on passing a written exam and on the mandatory completion of two (computer-oriented) project works and reports.

The purpose of the written exam is to test that you have reached Physics and Chemistry  learning objectives in terms of theoretical knowledge, through lectures/notes/books and though problem solving (at recitations and by additional preparation). Note that to pass the course, you must get a passing grade (at least 15 points as explained below) on the written exam itself.

The purpose of the two computationally oriented projects is to help you better learn the theory and to test that you have reached the learning objectives in terms of simple technical application skills, that you can apply the quantum-engineering theory in practice. Note that completion and approval (by relevant course assistants) of a report  is mandatory for both projects. That is, you can only get an overall passing grade if you both pass the written exam and get both of your project reports approved. In addition, the project reports may serve you for increasing your overall grade, as explained below. However, this is only possible if you score at least 15 point on your written exam and the bonus points can only be applied within the same academic year.  

Grades at the written examination will be given as follows:

15 out of 30 possible points: Grade 3

20 out of 30 possible points: Grade 4

25 out of 30 possible points: Grade 5

Bonus points: A correct, well written project report that is accepted on the first submission attempt and submitted not later than the deadline is awarded 2 bonus points. A report accepted after the second submission attempt will be awarded 1 bonus point. No bonus points will be awarded for projects handed in after the second deadline. The bonus points (0-4 in total for both reports) can be used on the exam and re-exams (during the 2019-2020 academic year), but only towards obtaining a grade 4 or 5. In other words, you must have 15 points on the exam itself in order to pass, no matter how many bonus points you have.

The written examination will be given on October 30, 2019 at 14:00-18:00 on campus Johanneberg, you need to sign up in advance for the examination via Studentportalen. Re-examination will be given during the re-examination period in January provided that you contact the examinator (Per) before Christmas, and in the re-examination period in August 2019 provided you contact the examinator (e.g. by e-mail) before the end of July 2019. Allowed during the examination are: dictionaries, “Beta”, Physics Handbook [by Nordling and Österman], one handwritten A4 paper (both sides) , and a Chalmers-issued calculator. All reference material, except a single sheet of A4 paper with handwritten notes, must be clean from added notes.