Editing Materials science (section)

===Electronic, optical, and magnetic===
[[File:Split-ring resonator array 10K sq nm.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Negative index metamaterial]]<ref name=APhys1>{{cite journal|last=Shelby |first=R. A. |author2=Smith D.R. |author3=Shultz S. |author4=Nemat-Nasser S.C. |title=Microwave transmission through a two-dimensional, isotropic, left-handed metamaterial |journal=Applied Physics Letters |date=2001 |volume=78 |url=http://people.ee.duke.edu/~drsmith/pubs_smith_group/Shelby_APL_(2001).pdf |issue=4 |doi=10.1063/1.1343489 |page=489 |bibcode=2001ApPhL..78..489S |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100618193936/http://people.ee.duke.edu/~drsmith/pubs_smith_group/Shelby_APL_%282001%29.pdf |archive-date=June 18, 2010 }}</ref><ref name=comp>{{cite journal |doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.84.4184 |title=Composite Medium with Simultaneously Negative Permeability and Permittivity |date=2000 |last1=Smith |first1=D. R. |journal=Physical Review Letters |volume=84 |pages=4184–7 |pmid=10990641 |first2=WJ |first3=DC |first4=SC |first5=S |issue=18 |last2=Padilla |last3=Vier |last4=Nemat-Nasser |last5=Schultz |bibcode=2000PhRvL..84.4184S |doi-access=free }}</ref>]]
Semiconductors, metals, and ceramics are used today to form highly complex systems, such as integrated electronic circuits, optoelectronic devices, and magnetic and optical mass storage media. These materials form the basis of our modern computing world, and hence research into these materials is of vital importance.

[[Semiconductor]]s are a traditional example of these types of materials. They are materials that have properties that are intermediate between [[Electrical resistivity and conductivity|conductors]] and [[insulator (electricity)|insulators]]. Their electrical conductivities are very sensitive to the concentration of impurities, which allows the use of [[doping (semiconductor)|doping]] to achieve desirable electronic properties. Hence, semiconductors form the basis of the traditional computer.

This field also includes new areas of research such as [[superconductivity|superconducting]] materials, [[spintronics]], [[metamaterial]]s, etc. The study of these materials involves knowledge of materials science and [[solid-state physics]] or [[condensed matter physics]].