Quantum Physics I (Spring 2013)

Course Features

• Video lectures
• Captions/transcript
• Selected lecture notes
• Assignments: problem sets with solutions
• Exams (no solutions)

Course Description
This course covers the experimental basis of quantum physics. It introduces wave mechanics, Schrödinger's equation in a single dimension, and Schrödinger's equation in three dimensions.
It is the first course in the undergraduate Quantum Physics sequence, followed by 8.05 Quantum Physics II and 8.06 Quantum Physics III.

1. Introduction to Superposition.
2. Experimental Facts of Life.
3. The Wave Function.
4. Expectations, Momentum, and Uncertainty.
5. Operators and the Schrӧdinger Equation.
6. Time Evolution and the Schrödinger Equation.
7. More on Energy Eigenstates.
8. Quantum Harmonic Oscillator Part I.
9. Operator Methods for the Harmonic Oscillator.
10. Clicker Bonanza and Dirac Notation.
11. Dispersion of the Gaussian and the Finite Well.
12. The Dirac Well and Scattering off the Finite Step.
13. Scattering Take 2.
14. Resonance and the S-Matrix.
15. Eigenstates of the Angular Momentum.
16. Eigenstates of the Angular Momentum II.
17. Central Potentials Take 2.
18. "Hydrogen" and its Discontents.
19. Identical Particles.
20. Periodic Lattices Part 1.
21. Periodic Lattices Part 2.
22. Metals, Insulators, and Semiconductors.
23. More on Spin.
24. Entanglement — QComputing, EPR, and Bell.
Experiment 2: Effective Mass.