Silvia Mittler Teaching Information

This page contains data on the courses that I teach. For general course schedules and descriptions, see the Office of the Registrar.

Introduction to Polymer Physics [Physics 528 a]: September - December 2003: Tuesdays and Thursdays 10:00 am - 11:30 am, P&A Building, room 123 C
Content: Introduction to Macromolecules: the chemical structure, configuration within a chain, molecular architecture, molar mass, history; Chain conformation, the end-to-end-vector and the radius of gyration; Simple chain models, the freely linked chain, chain with fixed bond angles, chain with hindered rotation and fixed bond angles, the distribution of in a real chain; Light scattering, small particles, large particles, Zimm plot; The solid state of polymers: crystalline, semi crystalline, amorphous, glassy, X-ray analysis, crystal systems, the directs and reciprocal lattice, diffraction, polymer crystals, polarization microscopy, spherolites, birefringence, disclinations, DSC; Amorphous polymers, the glass transition, Tg, theory of free volume; Mechanical behavior, viscoelasticity, Maxwell and Voit-Kelvin Model, rupture, stress-strain experiments, time-temperature superposition principle; Dielectric thermo analysis, alpha-, beta- and gamma-relaxation, local effects, the glass-rubber transition and melt flow; Liquid crystalline polymers, types, mesogenes, Schlieren-textures, determination of the phase transitions; Polymer mixtures, solution thermodynamics, Flory-Huggins-theory, binary mixtures, demixing diagrams, block-co-polymers and their phase behavior; Crystallisation, Avrami-equation
Physical Properties of Materials [Physics 2810 and MS 2810]: January 2011- April 2011, time: Tuesday 11:30 - 1:30 and Thursday 11:30 - 12:30, room: P&A 137
Content: Atomic structure and interatomic bonding, Structure of crystalline solids, Mechanical properties of materials, Properties of polymers, Brief introduction to quantum mechanics, Electrical properties of materials, Electronic band structure, Magnetic properties of materials, Applications and devices
Biological Materials [Physics 3809]: September 2011-December 2011: Tuesday 2:30-4:30 pm and Thursday 2:30-3:30 pm in P+A Building room 137
Content: The composition of biomaterials; chemical bonds and interactions; functional groups; water, pH and buffer; DNA, the genetic code; amino acids; proteins; primary, secondary and tertiary structure; lipids and water-lipid phase diagram; lipid monolayers, LB technology; the lipid double layer: biomembranes, structure and order, function, physical properties, electrical properties; Gouy-Chapman theory of the electrical double layer; Nernst'potential or the membrane polarisation; transport proteins; the cell; energy and energy storage; the muscle; the nerve cell

Optics and Photonics [Physics 3380]: September - December 2010: time: Tuesadys 2:30 pm to 4:30 pm and Thursdays 2:30 to 3:30, room: P&A 34
Content: Electromagnetic waves, polarization, superposition of waves, interference, interferometers, reflection and refraction, geometric optics, microscopy, Frauenhoffer diffraction, Fresnel diffraction, light sources and laser, integrated optics, photonic crystals, plasmonics