Chair staff gives the university course of Atomic Physics based on the program, developed by academian E. P. Velikhov and expanded by chair professors Yu. K. Zemtsov and A. M. Popov as well as docent S. S. Krasilnikov. This course contains fundumental information on the history of quantum ideas and quantum mechanics mathematical apparatus basics and also introduces the latest achievments of atomic scale microworld physics.

Chair staff also provides general Atomic practical work, which is a part of the faculty course "Atomic Physics".

The students of chair are trained in the undergraduate program "IB_FIZIKA" («ИБ_ФИЗИКА») (direction 03.03.02 "Physics") and master's degree "IM_FIZIKA" («ИМ_ФИЗИКА») (direction 03.04.02 "Physics"), and is aimed at providing high professional training of graduates with simultaneous formation of a broad scientific horizon on modern problems of atomic and laser physics, physics of low-temperature plasma, microelectronics.

Head of the Chair - Professor, D.Sc. Alexander Rakhimov

The buildings of the Moscow State University, in which the subdepartments of the chair is located

The chair was established in 1954 by academician L. A. Artsimovich (its first name was The Chair of Atomic Physics and Electronic Effects), who was the first Head of the Chair until 1973. From 1973 to 1988 academician E. P. Velikhov was Head of the Chair, 1988 to present - Head of the Chair is professor A. T. Rakhimov. In 1966 to expand the scientific research of the chair the department of Plasma Physics was established in the Institute of Nuclear Physics of MSU which was renamed to the Microelectronics department in 1989. In 1988 the laboratory of Cryoelectronics was established at the chair. This history of the chair formation and changes of scientific focus is reflected in the chair title changes. However at present moment this structural division is quite formal, and joint scientific reseaches are carried on by members of different departments.

Nowdays approximately 100 researches (of whom more than 50 are Ph.D.) conduct researches in various scientific areas, that are covered by the disciplines lectured at the chair of Atomic Physics, Plasma Physics and Microelectronics.

During the existence of the chair several significant scientific results were obtained. Here are some of the examples, connected with the high tech area.

Chair members were the world's first to implement and study the stationary semi-self-maintained discharges in gases at atmospheric pressure. Unique physical results obtained in this research allowed to understand the electrodynamics of the semi-self-maintained discharges and the influence of plasma processes on the gas laser parameters.

In the research of gas discharge laser pumping it was shown, that elementary plasma-chemical reaction in gas phase and heterogeneous reactions havily influence the discharge electrodynamic characteristics and essentially change the low temperature plasma composition due to overequilibrium chemically active radicals formation. The study of this area initiated new researches devoted to using gas discharges as plasma-chemical reactors. The results obtained in these studies formed the basis for the development of the new line of plasma-based methods used in vacuum and microelectronics. Nowdays the research in this area is foucsed on the development of physical foundations for the new generation of plasma-chemical reactors, that allow to proceed from micro- to nanoscale technology for Ultra-Large-Scale integration (ULSI) and novel nano-structured materials.

Chair members were the world's first to conduct theoretical and experimental research, that gave rise to the new area of modern nanoelectronics, which is single electronics, that manipulates single electrons. These studies lead to the creation of the the world's first single electron transistor. In the 90s the laboratory research gave rise to the new direction of this area - molecular electronics. In 1996 the world's first single electron transistor based on the single cluster molecule was created, and effects of electron correlated tunneling in such structures at room temperature were shown.

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, superconducting electronics and single-electronics.

The pioneer researches in these ares were noticed by local and international scientific society and rewarded with State and Lomonosov Prizes.

The chair have close scientific connections with leading Russian scientific centers: LPI RAS, GPI RAS, TRINITI, NRC "Kurchatov Institute", ISSP RAS and others, as well as with foreign scientific centers in USA, Canada, France, Germany, Belgium, Sweden and others.

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.