Chair of Atomic Physics, Plasma Physics and Microelectronics
Nuclear physics department of MSU Faculty of Physics
Head of the Chair
Professor, D.Sc. Alexander Rakhimov
About the сhair
The сhair of Atomic Physics, Plasma Physics and Microelectronics was established in 1954 on the initiative of Academician L.A. Artsimovich (its first name was the Chair of Atomic Physics and Electronic Phenomena), which was its first head until 1973. From 1973 to 1988, the head of the chair was Academician E.P. Velikhov, from 1988 to the present time - Professor A.T. Rakhimov. Among the scientists who at different times took part in the work of the chair were V.N. Lazukin, S.Yu. Lukyanov, V.A. Molchanov, V.D. Pismennyi, V.S. Strelkov, V.A. Chuyanov, K.K. Likharev, Yu.K. Zemtsov and others.
The chair is closely connected with the Department of Microelectronics (initially the Department of Plasma Physics) of the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Moscow State University, which is the main base for scientific research by employees, graduate students and students of the chair.
In the first period after the creation of the chair, the main scientific interests of its employees lay in the field of hot plasma physics and controlled thermonuclear fusion. In the early 70's, due to the rapid progress of laser technology, they moved to the field of physics of low-temperature plasma and gas discharge, which is the active medium of a large number of lasers operating in the frequency range from IR to UV radiation.
In the second half of the 1980s, the chair and the department of microelectronics of the Institute of Nuclear Physics began research on the physical principles of modern microelectronics, as well as the physical foundations for creating a fundamentally new superconductor electronics. For the construction of digital superconductor electronics, the concept of dynamic fast single-quantum logic was proposed, which was subsequently universally recognized.
In the 90s research, which gave rise to a new direction in this field - molecular one-electronics, were began. In 1996, for the first time in the world, a single-electron transistor based on a single cluster molecule was obtained, and the effects of correlated tunneling of electrons in such structures at room temperature were demonstrated.
In the 2000s, plasma methods for producing nanocarbon films possessing unique electrophysical properties were developed at the chair.
At the present time, the chair conducts theoretical and experimental research on topical problems of atomic and laser physics, physics of low-temperature plasma and gas discharge, superconductivity, superconductor electronics and one-electronics.
The chair has close scientific contacts with the leading scientific centers of the country: the Russian Academy of Sciences, IOP RAS, TRINITY, NRC "Kurchatov Institute", etc., as well as with foreign scientific centers of the USA, Canada, France, Germany and other countries.
