Customer Reviews

Applied Quantum Mechanics

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There is no shortage of quantum mechanics text to choose from. And if I had solely relied on the majority recommendations for an introductory text, I would have certainly missed this gem.

The author is very successful presenting the recondite fundamentals of quantum mechanics in a manner accessible to material scientists and engineers. This is accomplished without losing the rigor necessary to build a strong foundation. Applications of concepts are dispersed through out the chapters and keep the reader's attention.

But by the far the best selling point of this book are the worked problems at the end of the chapters. It is my personal opinion that if a textbook fails to at least provide final answers and solution hints to presented exercises, it is not really a textbook, but a reference reserved for those who have been adequately exposed to the material before. Here all end of the chapter questions are accompanied with worked solutions. This is a rarity among all undergrad or graduate science or engineering texts. This alone makes it valuable for self-study.

To those completely uninitiated to quantum mechanics, I do not recommend this book as a sole source because it is not sufficiently self-contained. It would be best to complement it with "Introduction to Applied Quantum and Statistical Mechanics" by Hagelstein. I have yet to read "Applied Quantum Mechanics" by Kroemer, which has recieved much praise and appears to be another excellent introductory source.

Levi's book differs from standard QM texts, in furnishing more of an applied bent. Directed towards those students in applied physics, materials science and engineering. For example, there is a superb chapter on electron propagation in crystals. Where we see how to describe propagation by transmission matrices. And how energy bands arise due to the periodicity of the potential seen by electrons. Of course, solid state texts also discuss this. But the treatment here of such ideas as tunnelling, and using the WKB approximation to describe that tunnelling in a semiquantitative manner, is clear and detailed. Plus, the examples focus on important heterostructures, where band gap engineering is important.

For semiconductor lasers, there is a similar treatment. With comparisons amongst the common types of laser diodes, like GaAs and InGaAsP.

The numerous problems and the copiously worked out examples are also a nice feature of the text.

This is a very practical quantum mechanics book. It tells you how to use quntum mechanics in many practical engineering situations. The worked problems at the end of each chapter help to enliven and reenforce the learning experience. The chapters on quantum tunneling is especially good. This book is suitable for students studying applied physics, materials science, electrical, electronic, mechanical engineering.

This book is an excelent introduction of quantum mechanics for engineers and non-physicists.