The department was formed in October 1993 as a result of the reorganization of the physics faculty. Presently the scientific activity of this young department is mainly concentrated around the experimental and theoretical research in quantum solid state but also includes a growing group of theoretical astrophysicists.
The newly established Braun Center for sub micron research is an integral part of the department. It is a modern and well equipped center which allows to conduct experiments on sub micron semiconductor structures as well as normal and high temperature superconductors.
I. Bar-Joseph
Optical spectroscopy of the two-dimensional electron gas in zero and strong magnetic fields.
Near field spectroscopy of semiconductor heterostructures.
Electron-hole complexes in quantum wells: Dynamics and steady state properties.
A. Finkelstein
Effects of the electron-electron interaction in low dimensional and disordered systems.
Metal-insulator transition in 2D conductors.
Magnetic fluctuations in high - Tc superconductors.
Y. Gefen
Quantum dots: Electron electron interaction and dissipation.
The quantum Hall effect.
Interference and tunneling in quantum mechanics.
Y. Gefen, Y. Imry
Dynamical effects, dissipation and thermodynamics in small quantum systems.
M. Heiblum
III-V semiconductors & their MBE growth.
Low dimensional mesoscopic structures.
Ballistic transport, interference and dephasing.
Temporal behavior via high frequency measurements.
Y. Imry
Effects of interaction on localization and on single-electron resonances, dephasing of Quantum interference in mesoscopics.
Y. Imry, Y. Gefen
Mesoscopic physics: Spectral correlations, persistent currents, fluctuations, quantum interference effects on transport, including the localized phase.
Y. Levinson
Electron-electron scattering in low dimensional mesoscopic systems.
Nonequilibrium current noise and dephasing in mesoscopic systems.
S. Levit
Quantum Hall effect: Integer and fractional; Chern-Simon' mean field theory; tunneling of anyons; edge states and excitations; composite bosons and fermions.
Non perturbative methods in Quantum Chromodynamics; random colormagnetic fields; matrix models with free random variables.
Quantum Chaos (small disordered systems) and Interactions.
Statistics of quasiparticle levels and wave functions in interacting quantum dots. Spin effects. Random matrix theory, supersymmetry and replica methods for the description of such systems.
Controlled decoherence of mesoscopic systems. Coupled dephasor-dephasee pairs.
Controlled decoherence of various quantum phenomena such as tunneling, Fano resonances, Berry phases, quantum pumps, Anderson localization, etc.
M. Milgrom
Departure from Newtonian dynamics as an explanation of the dark-matter problem in galactic systems.
High energy astrophysics: x-ray sources, gamma-ray sources.
D. Shahar
Experiments on materials at ultra low-temperatures.
Fractional and integer quantum Hall effect and related phenomena.
Quantum phase transitions: General transport studies and mesoscopics of the metal-insulator, superconductor-insulator and other transitions.
A. Stern
Quantum Hall effect and composite fermion theory. Electronic transport in strong magnetic fields.
Low density two dimensional electronic systems.
Carbon nanotubes.
V. Usov
Physical processes in very strong magnetic fields.
Physical processes in relativistic electron-positron plasma.
Physical processes at the surface and astrophysical appearance of strange-quark-matter stars.
The theory of nonthermal radiation from compact astronomical objects (pulsars, white dwarfs, gamma-ray bursters etc.).
Hydrodynamics and high-energy physics of colliding stellar winds in binary systems.
E. Waxman
High energy astrophysics:
Gamma-ray bursts: Origin and underlying physics.
Ultra-high energy cosmic-rays.
High energy neutrinos from astrophysical sources.
A. Yacoby
Electrostatic imaging of the quantum Hall effect and the 2D metal-insulator transition.
Transport in quantum wires.
Interference and dephasing of composite Fermions.
E. Zeldov
High-temperature superconductivity.
Vortex dynamics.
Vortex matter phase transitions.
Magneto-optical imaging.