[...]... once told me that electrical engineers were avoiding learning quantum mechanics as long as possible The day of reckoning has arrived Any electrical engineer hoping to work in the field of modern semiconductors will have to understand some quantum mechanics Quantum mechanics is not normally part of the electrical engineering curriculum An electrical engineering student taking quantum mechanics in the... engineers In it there are brief discussions on statistical mechanics and the topics that are needed for quantum mechanics Mostly, it centers on quantum mechanics as it applies to transport in semiconductors It differs from most books in quantum mechanics in two other very important aspects: (1) It makes use of Fourier theory to explain several concepts, because Fourier theory is a central part of electrical. .. introductory quantum mechanics text, such as angular momentum, are not covered in this book xiii xiv PREFACE THE LAYOUT OF THE BOOK Intended primarily for electrical engineers, this book focuses on a study of quantum mechanics that will enable a better understanding of semiconductors Chapters 1 through 7 are primarily fundamental topics in quantum mechanics Chapters 8 and 9 deal with the Green’s function formulation... A quantum mechanics class often has subjects such as statistical mechanics, thermodynamics, or advanced mechanics as prerequisites Furthermore, there is a greater cultural difference between engineers and physicists than one might imagine This book grew out of a one-semester class at the University of Idaho titled “Semiconductor Theory,” which is actually a crash course in quantum mechanics for electrical. .. explained by classical mechanics [1] Two experiments in particular stand out 1.1.1 Photoelectric Effect When monochromatic light—that is, light at just one wavelength—is used to illuminate some materials under certain conditions, electrons are emitted from Quantum Mechanics for Electrical Engineers, First Edition Dennis M Sullivan © 2012 The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc Published... these programs to be extremely beneficial in acquiring some intuition for quantum mechanics A request for the solutions manual needs to be emailed to pressbooks@ieee.org Dennis M Sullivan Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering University of Idaho ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am deeply indebted to Prof Supriyo Datta of Purdue University for his help, not only in preparing this book, but in developing the... the momentum of a particle is given by: p= h , λ (1.2) where λ is the wavelength Observations like Equations (1.1) and (1.2) led to the development of quantum mechanics 1.1.3 Energy Equations Before actually delving into quantum mechanics, consider the formulation of a simple energy problem Look at the situation illustrated in Figure 1.3 and think about the following problem: If the block is nudged onto... s2 ⎟ 2 ⎠ It is a simple matter to solve for the velocity: m2 ⎞ ⎛ v = ⎜ 2 × 9.8 2 ⎟ ⎝ s ⎠ 1/ 2 = 4.43 m s This is the fundamental approach taken in many physics problems Very elaborate and elegant formulations, like Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics, can solve complicated problems by formulating them in terms of energy This is the approach taken in quantum mechanics Example 1.1 An electron, initially... these physical parameters, we must do something to the waveform ψ(x) In quantum mechanics, we say that we apply an operator to the function It may seem strange that we have to do something to a function to obtain the information, but this is not as uncommon as you might first think For example, if we wanted to find the total area under some waveform F(x) we would apply the integration operator to find this... received master’s degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of Utah in 1978 and 1980, respectively He received his Ph.D degree in electrical engineering from the University of Utah in 1987 From 1987 to 1993, he was a research engineer with the Department of Radiation Oncology at Stanford University, where he developed a treatment planning system for hyperthermia cancer therapy . course in quantum mechan- ics for electrical engineers. In it there are brief discussions on statistical mechanics and the topics that are needed for quantum mechanics. Mostly, it centers on quantum. to understand some quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics is not normally part of the electrical engineering curriculum. An electrical engineering student taking quantum mechanics in the physics. conditions, electrons are emitted from Quantum Mechanics for Electrical Engineers, First Edition. Dennis M. Sullivan. © 2012 The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Published 2012