Preface

Summary

Quantum mechanics has evolved from a subject of study in pure physics to one with a vast range of applications in many diverse fields. Some of its most important applications are in modern solid state electronics and optics. As such, it is now a part of the required undergraduate curriculum of more and more electrical engineering, materials science, and applied physics schools. This book is based on the lecture notes that I have developed over the years teaching introductory quantum mechanics to students at the senior/first year graduate school level whose interest is primarily in applications in solid state electronics and modern optics.

There are many excellent introductory text books on quantum mechanics for students majoring in physics or chemistry that emphasize atomic and nuclear physics for the former and molecular and chemical physics for the latter. Often, the approach is to begin from a historic perspective, recounting some of the experimental observations that could not be explained on the basis of the principles of classical mechanics and electrodynamics, followed by descriptions of various early attempts at developing a set of new principles that could explain these ‘anomalies.’ It is a good way to show the students the historical thinking that led to the discovery and formulation of the basic principles of quantum mechanics. This might have been a reasonable approach in the first half of the twentieth century when it was an interesting story to be told and people still needed to be convinced of its validity and utility.