Centre for Advanced Study

at the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters

Mesoscopic Physics of Normal Conductors and Super Conductors

Information

Former 1999/2000 Natural Sciences - Medicine - Mathematics

End Report

Through daily observations, we’ve each developed an intuitive sense that all substances have characteristic physical properties which are independent of size. For example, one ordinarily expects that the intrinsic ability of a material to conduct heat or electrical current will not change with its physical dimensions. But intrinsic properties such as the thermal and electrical conductivities fail to maintain this expected invariance when materials are reduced to length scales over which the physics is actually determined. To illustrate, the resistance of a small conductor at low temperatures is determined by the precise number and spatial configuration of electron scatterers present. In this regime, electrons can maintain phase coherence in traversing the sample and the configuration of scatterers is reflected in a unique resistance “fingerprint”. It is in the relatively new field given the name mesoscopic physics, that we explore condensed matter systems in a regime where the boundries of a sample and its size play a central role in determining the physics it manifests.

The main idea behind the CAS research project was to invite key specialists in mesoscopic physics to Norway who should have the possibility to work and cooperate under favourable conditions to produce scientific output. The particular goal was to draw attention of Norwegian research communities to mesoscopic physics and to organise future collaboration with Norwegian researchers. This seemed to be specifically important in connection with general perspectives of Norwegian physics research including already running research programs on micro- and nano-technology, and planned future programs on nano-scale materials and quantum computations.

The participants have all expressed their satisfaction with the activities at CAS during the project. The scientific activities have functioned in a smooth and natural way. The results of the research followed as a natural consequence of the cooperation in the group. The main reason of the apparent success of the project is that we have been able to gather a group of extremely competent physicists who have all been eager to collaborate with each other and with young scientists, as well as to contribute to other activities. A friendly environment for informal discussions was a key feature of the group.

To conclude, the main idea was a definite success, but unfortunately, it did not draw as much attention from Norwegian researcher outside of the CAS project as we hoped for. Information regarding our activities was sufficiently distributed, but attendance by local researchers was low. But the expert participants of the research group have expressed their agreement to visit Norway again if invited for consulting. I hope that such consulting will be primarily important if the Norwegian authorities will give the field a push, and a mesoscopic physics community will emerge in Norway.

Fellows

  • Afonin, Vassili Vladimiroviek
    Research Fellow Ioffe Physical-Technical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences 1999/2000
  • Aharony, Amnon
    Professor Tel Aviv University 1992/1993, 1999/2000
  • Aleiner, Igor
    - State University of New York at Stony Brook 1999/2000
  • Altshuler, Boris
    Professor Princeton University 1999/2000
  • Andreev, Anton
    Dr. University of Colorado Boulder 1999/2000
  • Anisimovas, Egidijus
    Ph. D. Candidate Lund University 1999/2000
  • Beenakker, Carlo W. J
    Professor University of Leiden 1999/2000
  • Canali, Carlo Maria
    Assistant Professor Lund University 1999/2000
  • Dyakonov, Michael
    Professor University of Montpellier 1999/2000
  • Entin-Wohlman, Ora
    Professor Tel Aviv University 1999/2000
  • Glazman, Leonid
    Professor University of Minnesota 1999/2000
  • Gorelik, Leonid
    Dr. Chalmers University of Technology 1999/2000
  • Gornyi, Igor Viktorovich
    Dr. Ioffe Physical-Technical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences 1999/2000
  • Hauge, Eivind Hiis
    Professor Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) 1999/2000
  • Imry, Yoseph
    Professor Weizmann Institute of Science 1999/2000
  • Isacsson, Andreas Lars
    MSc. in Engineering Physics Chalmers University of Technology 1999/2000
  • Jonson, Mats Sigvard
    Professor Chalmers University of Technology 1999/2000
  • Khmelnitskii, David E.
    Professor University of Cambridge 1999/2000
  • Kogan, Eugene
    Professor Bar-Illan University 1999/2000
  • Kozub, Veniamin
    Professor Ioffe Physical-Technical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences 1999/2000
  • Kravtsov, Vladimir
    Professor International Center for Theoretical Physics 1999/2000
  • Levinson, Yehoshua
    Professor Weizmann Institute of Science 1999/2000
  • Lundin, Niklas I:son
    Student Chalmers University of Technology 1999/2000
  • Matveev, Konstantin
    Assistant Professor Duke University 1999/2000
  • Narozhny, Boris
    Dr. State University of New York at Stony Brook 1999/2000
  • Schön, Gerd
    Professor University of Karlsruhe 1999/2000
  • Shekhter, Robert
    Professor Chalmers University of Technology 1999/2000
  • Shelankov, Andrei Leonidovich
    Dr. Umeå University 1999/2000
  • Shklovskii, Boris
    Professor University of Minnesota 1999/2000
  • Shumeiko, Vitaly
    Associate Professor Chalmers University of Technology 1999/2000
  • Zala, Gbor J.
    - Stony Brook University 1999/2000

Group leader

  • Yuri Galperin

    Title Professor Institution University of Oslo (UiO) Year at CAS 1999/20002006/2007
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