The course is intended for graduate students and 3^rd-year undergraduates. The course starts with the basic property of crystalline solids – spatial periodicity – and shows how various properties that are characteristic of solids and phenomena that can be measured in solid materials follow from their spatial periodic structure. In addition, we also introduce certain theoretical concepts that are unique to periodic solids and then use them in our discussions.

The topics of the course include:

1. Crystal structure, periodicity, Bravais lattices, unit cells.
2. X-Ray diffraction from crystals, Bragg's law, reciprocal lattice, Brillouin zones.
3. Crystal vibrations, dispersion relations, phonons, specific heat, melting criterion.
4. Bonding types in solids. Ionic, covalent, metallic, hydrogen and van der Waals bonding.
5. Electronic structure. Bloch theorem, nearly free and tightly bound electrons, bands, the bandgap, density of states, Fermi energy. Metals, insulators and semiconductors.
6. Modern methods in electronic structure.

The written assignment prepared by the students allows them to study in depth a specific topic from the rich world of solid state phenomena, and summarize their finding in writing, according to accepted scientific standards.

Methodologically the course naturally connects to the undergraduate courses: Introduction to the Chemical Bond, Inorganic Chemistry and Physical Chemistry, as well as to the advanced courses on materials, quantum chemistry and density functional theory.