Atomic Transport in Solids

This book provides the fundamental statistical theory of atomic transport in crystalline solids.

A. R. Allnatt (Author), A. B. Lidiard (Author)

9780521543422, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 30 October 2003

600 pages, 95 b/w illus.
24.7 x 17 x 3.2 cm, 1.069 kg

'The authors demonstrate in a remarkable way that a high theoretical level of presentation and comprehensibility for a broad readership are not mutally exclusive … strongly recommended to final year undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as to research workers … a pleasure to read and will be of substantial benefit to anyone interested in diffusion from a general point of view.' Zeitschrift fur physikalische Chemie

This book provides the fundamental statistical theory of atomic transport in crystalline solids, that is the means by which processes occurring at the atomic level are related to macroscopic transport coefficients and other observable quantities. The cornerstones of the authors' treatment are (i) the physical concepts of lattice defects, (ii) the phenomenological description provided by non-equilibrium thermodynamics and (iii) the various methods of statistical mechanics used to link these (kinetic theory, random-walk theory, linear response theory etc.). The book is primarily concerned with transport in the body of crystal lattices and not with transport on surfaces, within grain boundaries or along dislocations, although much of the theory here presented can be applied to these low-dimensional structures when they are atomically well ordered and regular.

1. Atomic movements in solids - phenomenological equations
2. Imperfections in solids
3. Statistical thermodynamics of crystals containing point defects
4. Non-equilibrium thermodynamics of atomic transport processes in solids
5. Some applications of non-equilibrium thermodynamics to solids
6. Microscopic theories - the master equation
7. Kinetic theory of relaxation processes
8. Kinetic theory of isothermal diffusion processes
9. The theory of random walks
10. Random walk theories of atomic diffusion
11. Transport coefficients of dilute solid solutions - results and applications
12. The evaluation of nuclear magnetic relaxation rates
13. Theories of concentrated and highly defective systems
Epilogue
References.

Subject Areas: Condensed matter physics [liquid state & solid state physics PHFC]