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Condensed matter physics is the field of physics that deals with the macroscopic physical properties of matter. In particular, it is concerned with the "condensed" phases that appear whenever the number of constituents in a system is extremely large and the interactions between the constituents are strong. The most familiar examples of condensed phases are solids and liquids, which arise from the electric force between atoms. More exotic condensed phases include the superfluid and the Bose-Einstein condensate found in certain atomic systems at very low temperatures, the superconducting phase exhibited by conduction electrons in certain materials, and the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic phases of spins on atomic lattices. Image File history File links Please see the file description page for further information. ... Solid-state physics, the largest branch of condensed matter physics, is the study of rigid matter, or solids. ... A black hole concept drawing by NASA. Physics (from the Greek, φυσικός (physikos), natural, and φύσις (physis), nature) is the science of the natural world dealing with the fundamental constituents of the universe, the forces they exert on one another, and the results produced by these forces. ... Matter is commonly referred to as the substance of which physical objects are composed. ... In the physical sciences, a phase is a set of states of a macroscopic physical system that have relatively uniform chemical composition and physical properties (i. ... In jewelry, a solid gold piece is the alternative to gold-filled or gold-plated jewelry. ... A liquid will assume the shape of its container. ... Electromagnetism is the physics of the electromagnetic field: a field, encompassing all of space, composed of the electric field and the magnetic field. ... Properties An atom (Greek άτομον from ά: non and τομον: divisible) is a submicroscopic structure found in all ordinary matter. ... Superfluidity is a phase of matter characterised by the complete absence of viscosity. ... A Bose-Einstein condensate is a phase of matter formed by bosons cooled to temperatures very near to absolute zero. ... Temperature is the physical property of a system which underlies the common notions of hot and cold; the material with the higher temperature is said to be hotter. ... A magnet levitating above a high-temperature superconductor (with boiling liquid nitrogen underneath) demonstrates the Meissner effect. ... Electrical conduction is the current (movement of charged particles) through a material in response to an electric field. ... A ferromagnet is a piece of ferromagnetic material, in which the microscopic magnetized regions, called domains, have been aligned by an external magnetic field (e. ... In materials that exhibit antiferromagnetism, the spins of magnetic electrons align in a regular pattern with neighboring spins pointing in opposite directions. ... In physics, spin refers to the angular momentum intrinsic to a body, as opposed to orbital angular momentum, which is generated by the motion of its center of mass about an external point. ... In mineralogy and crystallography, a crystal structure is a unique arrangement of atoms in a crystal. ...

Condensed matter physics is by far the largest field of contemporary physics. By one estimate, one third of all American physicists identify themselves as condensed matter physicists. Historically, condensed matter physics grew out of solid-state physics, which is now considered one of its main subfields. The term "condensed matter physics" was apparently coined by Philip Anderson when he renamed his research group - previously "solid-state theory" - in 1967. In 1978, the Division of Solid State Physics at the American Physical Society was renamed as the Division of Condensed Matter Physics. A physicist is a scientist trained in physics. ... Solid-state physics, the largest branch of condensed matter physics, is the study of rigid matter, or solids. ... Philip Warren Anderson (born December 13, 1923) is an American physicist. ... 1967 (MCMLXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1978 calendar). ... The American Physical Society was founded in 1899 and is the worlds largest organization of physicists. ...

One of the reasons for calling the field "condensed matter physics" is that many of the concepts and techniques developed for studying solids actually apply to fluid systems. For instance, the conduction electrons in an electrical conductor form a type of quantum fluid with essentially the same properties as fluids made up of atoms. In fact, the phenomenon of superconductivity, in which the electrons condense into a new fluid phase in which they can flow without dissipation, is very closely analogous to the superfluid phase found in helium 3 at low temperatures. Electrical conduction is the current (movement of charged particles) through a material in response to an electric field. ... A magnet levitating above a high-temperature superconductor (with boiling liquid nitrogen underneath) demonstrates the Meissner effect. ... Helium-3 is a light, non-radioactive isotope of helium. ...

Condensed matter physics is also closely related to the field of materials science. In this context, condensed matter physicists research nanotechnology, i.e. the ability to mass produce atomic-scale machines, which was first publicly envisioned by Richard Feynman. The Materials Science Tetrahedron, which often also includes Characterization at the center Materials science is the multidisciplinary field relating the performance and function of matter in any and all applications to its micro, nano, and atomic-structure, and vice versa. ... A mite next to a gear set produced using MEMS, the precursor to nanotechnology. ... Richard Phillips Feynman (May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988) (surname pronounced FINE-man; in IPA) was one of the most influential American physicists of the 20th century, expanding greatly the theory of quantum electrodynamics. ...

Topics in condensed matter physics

• Phases
  • Generic phases - Gas; Liquid; Solid
  • Low temperature phases - Bose-Einstein condensate; Fermi gas; Fermi liquid; Fermionic condensate; Luttinger liquid; Superfluid; Supersolid
  • Phase phenomena - Order parameter; Phase transition; Cooling curve
• Crystalline solids
  • Types - Insulator; Metal; Semiconductor; Semimetal; Quasicrystals
  • Electronic properties - Band gap; Bloch wave; Conduction band; Effective mass; Electrical conduction; Electron hole; Valence band
  • Electronic phenomena - Kondo effect; Plasmon; Quantum Hall effect; Superconductivity; Wigner crystal; Thermoelectricity
  • Lattice phenomena - Antiferromagnet; Ferroelectric effect; Ferromagnet; Magnon; Phonon; Spin glass; Topological defect
• Soft matter
  • Types - Amorphous solid; Granular matter; Liquid crystal; Polymer;
• Nanotechnology
  • Nanoelectromechanical Systems (NEMS)
  • Magnetic Resonance Force Microscopy
  • Heat Transport in Nanoscale Systems
  • Spin Transport

In the physical sciences, a phase is a set of states of a macroscopic physical system that have relatively uniform chemical composition and physical properties (i. ... A gas is one of the four main phases of matter (after solid and liquid, and followed by plasma), that subsequently appear as a solid material is subjected to increasingly higher temperatures. ... A liquid will assume the shape of its container. ... In jewelry, a solid gold piece is the alternative to gold-filled or gold-plated jewelry. ... A Bose-Einstein condensate is a phase of matter formed by bosons cooled to temperatures very near to absolute zero. ... A Fermi gas is a collection of non-interacting fermions. ... A Fermi liquid is a generic term for a quantum mechanical liquid of fermions that arises under certain physical conditions—when the temperature is sufficiently low, and when the system is translationally invariant. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with fermion condensate. ... Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid, more often referred to as simply Luttinger liquid, is a theoretical model describing interacting electrons (or other fermions) in a one-dimensional conductor (e. ... Superfluidity is a phase of matter characterised by the complete absence of viscosity. ... A supersolid is a spatially ordered superfluid. ... In physics, a phase transition is the transformation of a thermodynamic system from one phase to another. ... In physics, a phase transition, (or phase change) is the transformation of a thermodynamic system from one phase to another. ... A cooling curve of naphthalene from liquid to solid. ... In mineralogy and crystallography, a crystal structure is a unique arrangement of atoms in a crystal. ... // Definition An Insulator is a material or object which resists the flow of electric charge. ... Hot metal work from a blacksmith In chemistry, a metal (Greek: Metallon) is an element that readily forms ions (cations) and has metallic bonds, and metals are sometimes described as a lattice of positive ions (cations) in a cloud of electrons. ... A semiconductor is a material with an electrical conductivity that is intermediate between that of an insulator and a conductor. ... Together with the metals and nonmetals, the metalloids (in Greek metallon = metal and eidos = sort - also called semimetals) form one of the three categories of chemical elements as classified by ionization and bonding properties. ... Quasicrystals are a peculiar form of solid in which the atoms of the solid are arranged in a seemingly regular, yet non-repeating structure. ... In solid state physics and related applied fields, the band gap is the energy difference between the top of the valence band and the bottom of the conduction band in insulators and semiconductors. ... A Bloch wave or Bloch state is the wavefunction of a particle (usually, an electron) placed in a periodic potential. ... In semiconductors and insulators, the conduction band is the range of electron energy, higher than that of the valence band, sufficient to make the electrons free to accelerate under the influence of an applied electric field and thus constitute an electric current. ... In solid state physics, a particles effective mass is the mass it seems to carry in the semiclassical model of transport in a crystal. ... Electrical conduction is the movement of electrically charged particles through matter. ... In solid state physics, an electron hole (usually referred to simply as a hole) is the absence of an electron from the otherwise full valence band. ... In solids, the valence band is the highest range of electron energies where electrons are normally present at zero temperature. ... The Kondo effect refers to the non-trivial physics associated with the presence of a magnetic impurity in a solid (generally, a metal). ... In physics, the plasmon is the quasiparticle resulting from the quantization of plasma oscillations. ... The quantum Hall effect is a quantum-mechanical version of the Hall effect, observed in two-dimensional systems of electrons subjected to low temperatures and strong magnetic fields, in which the Hall conductance σ takes on the quantized values where e is the elementary charge and h is Plancks constant. ... A magnet levitating above a high-temperature superconductor (with boiling liquid nitrogen underneath) demonstrates the Meissner effect. ... Thermoelectricity is the conversion from heat differentials to electricity or vice versa. ... In materials that exhibit antiferromagnetism, the spins of magnetic electrons align in a regular pattern with neighboring spins pointing in opposite directions. ... In physics, the ferroelectric effect is an electrical phenomenon whereby certain ionic crystals may exhibit a spontaneous dipole moment. ... A ferromagnet is a piece of ferromagnetic material, in which the microscopic magnetized regions, called domains, have been aligned by an external magnetic field (e. ... There is a place named Magnon (pronunciation: ma-nyon) in Gabon, see Magnon, Gabon A magnon is a collective excitation of the electrons spin structure in a crystal lattice. ... In physics, a phonon is a quantized mode of vibration occurring in a rigid crystal lattice, such as the atomic lattice of a solid. ... A spin glass is a disordered material exhibiting high magnetic frustration. ... In cosmology, a topological defect is a (often) stable configuration of matter predicted by some theories to form at phase transitions in the very early universe. ... Soft matter comprises a variety of states that are perhaps best distinguished by being dominated by energies of order thermal energies at room temperature, more or less. ... An amorphous solid is a solid in which there is no long-range order of the positions of the atoms. ... A granular material is a conglomeration of discrete solid, macroscopic particles characterized by a loss of energy whenever the particles interact (the most common example would be friction when grains collide). ... Schlieren texture of Liquid Crystal nematic phase Liquid crystals are substances that exhibit a phase of matter that has properties between those of a conventional liquid, and those of a solid crystal. ... Polymer is a generic term used to describe a very long molecule consisting of structural units and repeating units connected by covalent chemical bonds. ... A mite next to a gear set produced using MEMS, the precursor to nanotechnology. ... NEMS or nanoelectromechanical systems are similar to MEMS but smaller. ...

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