Other Elements
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 April 2026
This chapter explores, for condensed matter formed by other elements, the novel physical and chemical properties that are dominated by full quantum effects. This includes elementary substances including relatively light elements (e.g., helium (He), lithium (Li), carbon (C), and boron (B)) as well as relatively heavy elements (e.g., oxygen (O) and silicon (Si)), and their compounds. The objects studied include liquid and solid helium, lithium bulk metal and clusters, bulk boron, borophene, boron nitride nanotubes, hexagonal boron nitride, magnesium diboride, diamond, graphene, carbon atoms in organic molecules, strontium titanate, barium ferrite, silicon semiconductors, etc. The related physical and chemical properties include superfluidity, supersolidity, elastic or plastic deformation, heat capacity, high-pressure phase diagram, bonding lengths, diffusion, crystal structure, electron–phonon coupling, bandgap renormalization, thermal expansion coefficient, thermal conductivity, phonon frequency distribution, superconducting temperature and light absorption, etc. Through a variety of fruitful aspects readers would overview the situations where full quantum effect is pronounced and even critical.
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