Single crystalline, polycrystalline and amorphous materials – single crystals: unit cell, crystal systems, Bravais lattices, directions and planes in a crystal, Miller indices – inter-planar distances - coordination number and packing factor for SC, BCC, FCC, HCP structures - Crystal imperfections –point, line, surface and volume imperfections.

Conductors: classical free electron theory – electrical conductivity - Success and failures of classical free electron theory - Quantum free electron theory of metals - Fermi distribution function - Density of energy states for a metal – Carrier concentration in a metal. Superconductors: properties – Meissner effect – type I & II superconductors – BCS theory–Applications: Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID), Magnetic levitation.

Intrinsic Semiconductors – Energy band diagram – direct and indirect bandgap semiconductors – Carrier concentration in intrinsic semiconductors– Fermi level – Variation of Fermi level with temperature – electrical conductivity – band gap determination – extrinsic semiconductors - Hall effect –Determination hall coefficient – Applications –Photo detectors (PIN & Avalanche).

Basic concepts – magnetic moment, susceptibility, permeability - Origin of magnetic moment – Bohr magneton – Dia, Para and Ferro magnetism – Domain theory – Hysteresis– soft and hard magnetic materials – anti ferromagnetic materials – Ferrites and its applications - Magnetic storage devices- magnetic hard disc, bubble memory.

Spontaneous and stimulated emission- Population inversion -Einstein’s A and B coefficients- Types of lasers – CO2, Semiconductor lasers -Industrial and Medical Applications. Fibre optics: Principle and propagation of light in optical fibres – Numerical aperture and Acceptance angle - Types of optical fibres (material, refractive index, mode) – Losses in optical fibre- attenuation, dispersion, bending-Fibre Optical Communication system (Block diagram).