Yurii Pavlovich Popov February 13, 1928–February 24, 2005 (On the 80th anniversary of his birth)

The scientific biography of the distinguished physicist experimentalist and prominent expert in the field of neutron nuclear physics Yurii Pavlovich Popov (13.02.1928–24.02.2005) is presented, including his work at Lebedev Physical Institute, AS USSR and the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research. Yu.P. Popov was a member of the editorial board of the journal Physics of Particles and Nuclei from 1971 to the end of his life.     

四川大学高温高压物理联合研究所三十年的简短历史回顾

2007年是清泉教授九十华诞之年.教授是我国原子与分子物理学界广受尊敬的著名科学家.借此机会,我们愿以简短回顾四川大学高温高压物理联合研究所三十年历程的方法,对建所以来教授通过联合高等院校与科研机构方式在合作研究与人才培养中的创举性工作致以崇高的敬意.     

固体物理学发展简史

固体物理学研究多体问题,是物理学的重要分支,涉及面极其广泛,也是包括材料科学等在内的多个技术学科的基础。本文论述了固体物理学的发展简史,包括初期发展史、对热性质研 究、魏德曼–弗兰兹定律、晶体微观几何结构的研究历程、自由电子气体模型、固体能带论、对固 体磁性的研究、信息时代、中国固体物理学的发展、固体物理学教材等多个部分,简述了固体物 理学发展中的大事件和具有较大影响力的科学家及其贡献。     

Knotting the MECO Network

The Conferences of the Middle European Cooperation in Statistical Physics (MECO) were created as an attempt to establish and maintain an exchange between scientists in the fields of statistical and condensed matter physics from Western and Eastern countries, overcoming the hurdles of the Iron Curtain. Based on personal remembrance and historical resources, the genesis and further development of MECO meetings is described. The annual meetings were interrupted in 1991 by the Yugoslav War but were re-established in 1993 and continue today. Although the fall of the Iron Curtain and the European Research programs changed the situation for the meetings considerably, the ties created by MECO still are useful to help scientific exchange. The history of European (and not only) statistical physics and the history of the MECO are tightly intertwined. It started in a time where an essential breakthrough has been achieved in statistical physics describing the features near phase transitions. In addition to the merging of solid-state physics and field theory concepts, the application of numerical methods (Monte Carlo methods) added a new pillar besides exact solutions and experiments to check theoretical models. In the following, the scientific emphasis (in general) has changed from the traditional fields of the first MECO to complexity and interdisciplinary themes as well.     

Science in Isolation: American Marine Geophysics Research, 1950–1968

The emergence of plate tectonics theory during the 1960s stemmed from large-scale efforts to investigate the sea floor and to interpret results in terms of a horizontally mobile crust. Many scientists, particularly those within the Soviet bloc, refused to accept the new ideas about the earth. Most authors fault the conservative Soviet scientific leadership for halting the progress of geophysics in the East. By contrast, this article examines facets of the Western scientific community that begin to explain both the exclusion of Soviet scientists from participating in the “plate tectonics revolution” and also the meteoric success of the theory in the West.     

Two post-Alikhanian generations of physicists

Artem Alikhanian, famous Soviet physicist, was one of founders of experimental nuclear and cosmic-ray physics in USSR and in Armenia. A result of his activity is subsequent two generations of professional physicists presenting the real wealth of Armenian science.     

Group theory in solid-state physics is not dead yet alias some recent developments in the use of group theory in solid-state physics

In this article a review is given of the principal applications of group theory in solid-state physics.

Some of these applications are well established, such as the simplification of the forms of tensors representing physical properties of crystals, the labelling of electronic energy band structures, and the study of the splitting of atomic or ionic energy levels in crystals. The general principles involved in these applications are discussed. However, no attempt is made to give a comprehensive review of all the work which has been done in these areas; for further details references are given to the existing literature.

The main intention of the article is to show that apart from the well-established applications, which are adequately described in the existing literature, there have been many new developments in recent years. Group theory has come to be applied to many other types of problems in solid-state physics and these applications have not been discussed extensively in the existing review and textbook literature on the subject. These applications include: the study of the symmetry, in k space, of constant energy surfaces and in particular the symmetry of the Fermi surface; the labelling and the degeneracies of dispersion relations for phonons, magnons, and other kinds of quasiparticles; selection rules for processes involving various particle or quasiparticle states in crystals; structure determination and phase transitions; the use of two-dimensional space groups for surfaces and thin films; and the problem of the symmetry of a (non-magnetic) crystal situated in a uniform external magnetic field. The treatment given in the article is not restricted to the use of the classical point groups and space groups but, where magnetic ordering is important, the appropriate generalized symmetry groups are considered.     

Informing Physics: Jacob Bekenstein and the Informational Turn in Theoretical Physics

In his PhD dissertation in the early 1970s, the Mexican-Israeli theoretical physicist Jacob Bekenstein developed the thermodynamics of black holes using a generalized version of the second law of thermodynamics. This work made it possible for physicists to describe and analyze black holes using information-theoretical concepts. It also helped to transform information theory into a fundamental and foundational concept in theoretical physics. The story of Bekenstein’s work—which was initially opposed by many scientists, including Stephen Hawking—highlights the transformation within physics towards an information-oriented scientific mode of theorizing. This “informational turn” amounted to a mild-mannered revolution within physics, revolutionary without being rebellious.     

A Different Laboratory Tale: Fifty Years of Mössbauer Spectroscopy

I explore the fifty-year development of M?ssbauer spectroscopy by focusing on three episodes in its development at Argonne National Laboratory: work by nuclear physicists using radioactive sources in the early 1960s, work by solid-state physicists using radioactive resources from the mid- 1960s through the 1970s,and work by solid-state physicists using the Advanced Photon Source from the 1980s to 2005. These episodes show how knowledge about the properties of matter was produced in a national-laboratory context and highlights the web of connections that allow nationallaboratory scientists working at a variety of scales to produce both technological and scientific innovations.     

Chaos and beauty in a beaker: The early history of the Belousov‐Zhabotinsky reaction

Discovered in 1950 by Belousov in the Soviet Union and further investigated by Zhabotinsky and his research group in the 1960s, the Belousov‐Zhabotinsky reaction soon came to the wider attention of scientists on both sides of the Iron Curtain and made an important contribution to consolidating Prigogine's theory of nonequilibrium thermodynamics. Allowing scientists to study chaotic behavior in the laboratory, it also paved the way for further investigations of self‐organizing systems in biology and played an important part in the formation of the field of nonlinear science. Focusing on the period between 1950 and 1975, this paper explores the early history of this enigmatic reaction.     

基于注意力曲线的近代物理专题智慧课堂的设计

近代物理专题作为基础通识必修课程大学物理的延续课程,担当着帮助学生了解近代物理学的发展概貌、提高大学生的科学素养的教学目标.文章工作以固体物理基础与硅信息时代专题为例,结合注意力曲线特点,使用混合式教学方法和手段,理论与应用相结合,进行了固体物理基础和硅材料应用的智慧课堂设计.经多次教学实践,取得了良好的教学效果.     

关于医药学院校物理课程的思考

通过对华北地区16所医药学院校物理课程教学现状的调查和分析,讨论了医药类专业物理课程的目标与定位,以及课程结构和教学模式等问题．并结合唐山市部分医务人员学历结构实际,进一步强调了研究五年制医学院校物理课改革的必要性。     

Optics in Belorussia

Conclusion At the approach of the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Communist Party of Belorussia, the scientists of the republic are experiencing a sense of well-deserved pride for all that has been achieved in the national economy, culture, and science. As a result of the unusually rapid development of the scientific investigations in the republic, the Academy of Sciences of the Belorussian SSR has become one of the leading scientific centers of the Soviet Union in a short time. In 1979 it will mark the 50th anniversary of its founding.The Belorussian scientists clearly understand that new, more complicated, and crucial problems now await them, and they are sure that they will handle them.Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 29, No. 6, pp. 965–986, December, 1978.     

Artem Isaak Alikhanian (1908–1978) (Biographic Sketch)

A.I. Alikhanian is one of founders of experimental nuclear physics in USSR. Starting and development of the atomic nuclei, cosmic ray, and elementary particle physics in Armenia relates to the name Alikhanian. He created the Aragats and Nor-Amberd high-altitude cosmic stations and the Yerevan Physics Institute. He made an essential contribution into the development of high-energy physics and played a significant role in creation of methods of recording high-energy particles.     

Physics of Solid-State Dielectrics: Superstrong Electric Fields

Electric strengthening with decreasing dielectric thickness allows superstrong electric fields, whose strength exceeds the breakdown one for thick dielectrics, to be created in thin layers of solid-state dielectrics without an electric breakdown. Such fields are called superstrong. In thin dielectric layers of micron thickness, the processes can be investigated which cannot be observed in thicker layers due to the onset of the breakdown. In the present paper, the results of experimental investigations of processes and phenomena taking place in thin monocrystal layers of alkali-halide crystals (AHC) in superstrong electric fields are generalized. Among these processes and phenomena are: electric currents and luminescence (electroluminescence) of AHC layers, impact excitation and electronic ionization of luminescence centers and ions of the host crystal lattice, emission of electrons, accelerated in the layer by the electric field, in vacuum, formation of point and linear defects in AHC under the action of strong and superstrong electric fields, etc. All these phenomena form a new scientific direction – physics of solid-state dielectrics: superstrong electric fields. The results of investigations of superstrong electric fields allow new approaches to the understanding of mechanisms of dielectric breakdown to be realized.     

George Gamow: Scientific Amateur and Polymath

George Gamow (1904-1968) was among the first of the many brilliant scientists who forsook Europe for the United States in the early 1930s. Although most were fleeing the fascist imperium of Hitler and Mussolini, Gamow was one of a few who managed to escape the burgeoning despotism of Stalin in the Soviet Union. His early application of quantum mechanics to the atomic nucleus and his subsequent insight into the role played by the physics of the atom and its nucleus in stars, galaxies, and the universe identifies him as a scientist of unusual genius. Gamow displayed a boisterous, infectious - almost Rutherfordian - interest in all aspects of pure science. His interests were broad and his industry prodigious. His scientific output covered areas as diverse as nuclear physics, astrophysics, cosmology, biological genetics, and the fascinating question of the relationship of the large-scale structure and development of the universe to the properties of elementary particles and fields. He also was an immensely imaginative and prolific author of popular expositions on scientific subjects. One who is as well-known for his authorship of the Mr. Tompkins series of science popularizations as for his contributions to the development of the physical consequences of the big-bang theory of the expanding universe and the prediction of the cosmic background radiation must be unique in the scientific pantheon.     

晶体管发明60年

回顾了晶体管的发明,对最早3种晶体管在原理、性能上作了比较,谈了3位发明者肖克莱、巴丁、布拉顿的重大贡献和一些性格特点;并对晶体管诞生后60年来的后续发展如集成电路等作了回顾;总结了这一发明对我们的启示和教训.     

Laser-related spectroscopy of ion-doped crystals for tunable solid-state lasers

In this work an overview of transition metal (TM) ion- and rare earth (RE) ion-doped crystals for application as tunable solid-state lasers will be given. Spectroscopic and laser results will be presented including recent research and advances in this field. Within this work tunability is defined as the possibility to achieve laser oscillation in the vibronic sideband of a transition. Tunable solid-state lasers are of interest for a wide field of applications, e.g. in scientific research, in medicine, for measurement and testing techniques, ultra short pulse generation, and communication. They can also be used as coherent light sources for second-harmonic generation, for optical parametric oscillators, and for sum- and difference-frequency generation. Tunable laser media based on 3d?3d transitions of transition-metal ions and 4f?5d transitions of rare-earth ions cover nowadays almost the whole spectral range between 270 nm and 4500 nm, see Fig. 1 [1-15]. In comparison to laser systems based on the 4f?4f transitions of trivalent rare-earth ions, tunable lasers based on 3d?3d and 4f?5d transitions are in general affected by a higher probability of excited-state absorption (ESA), a higher probability of non-radiative decay, and a higher saturation intensity leading to higher laser thresholds. Often laser oscillation cannot be obtained at all. These general topics will be considered in Sect. 1, where the basic aspects of tunable solid-state lasers are discussed: these are the preparational, the spectroscopic, and the laser aspect. In Sect. 2, the investigation of transition metal ion-doped crystals with respect to the realization of tunable laser oscillation is presented. The work is focused on transition-metal ions of the 3d row (Fe row) and divided into two subsections according to the octahedral and tetrahedral coordinations of the ion investigated. Each subsection is structured according to the electron configurations: 3d¹, 3d³, 3d⁴, and 3d⁸ for the octahedrally coordinated ions and 3d¹, 3d², and 3d⁴ for the tetrahedrally coordinated ions. Section 3 deals with interconfigurational transitions of divalent and trivalent rare-earth ions. Finally, in Sect. 4 the work is summarized. Received: 22 December 2000 / Published online: 30 March 2001     

民办高校大学物理教学方法与实践

民办高校的大部分学生开始学习大学物理时没有自信心,也无正确的学习目的,学习大学物理仅仅为了考试及格,拿到毕业证.因此,民办高校大学物理教学的首要任务是提高学生的非智力品质.学校要充分认识到学生基础差的因素,不薄专业厚基础,制订适合民办高校学生的大学物理教学大纲,编写适应学生的大学物理教材,带领学生开展扎实的大学物理实验和实践教学.与此同时,要耐心、细致地采用多种形式的有效教学方法来提高大学物理教学质量.本文是作者多年在民办高校从教的经验总结.     

Acoustoelectronics: History,present state,and new ideas for a new era

The application of high-frequency acoustic devices to the enhancement of electronics saw an extraordinary growth in both Eastern and Western countries in the sixties and seventies. A major impetus for these developments was the tension existing between the Soviet Bloc countries in the east and the former Allied countries in the west. Government military spending on both sides provided funding to explore new acoustoelectronic concepts in universities, institutes, and major defense companies. The direct exchange of visits between scientists and engineers of the East and West was limited until the 1980s, when travel restrictions were lifted on both sides and authors that has previously only been names in the open literature became face-to-face contacts and enjoyed exchanges at conferences of mutual interest. This resulted in a new era of cooperative work between the East and West and a large number of device applications that are seen in electronic systems around the world today. This paper explores the major acoustoelectronic developments of the sixties and seventies from an eastern and western perspective.