Department of Condensed Matter Physics 

Moty Heiblum, Head


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.


T. Alexander 

Stars very near massive black holes.

The Galactic Center.

Gravitational Lensing.

Active Galactic Nuclei.


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.


A. Gal-Yam 

Cosmic explosions

  1.  Core-collapse supernova explosions: their origins, nature, physics and population statistics

  2.  Thermonuclear supernova explosions (SNe Ia): their nature and rates

  3.  Gamma-Ray Bursts: their origin and relation to supernovae

  4.  New types of cosmic explosions

Wide-field variability surveys
A. Gal-Yam, S. Kulkarni, E. Ofek, (Caltech)

  1.  The Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) - the next generation wide-field variability survey

  2.  Transients from the supernova Factory (SNF) - a pilot project for the PTF

  3.  Wide-field radio variability surveys


Y. Gefen

Quantum dots: Interplay between Electron-Electron Interaction & Spin and Quantum Interference Effects.

The Fractional Quantum Hall Effect : Quasi-Particle Tunneling.

Noise and Interactions in Quantum Conductors

Geometric ( Berry) Phases in the Presence of Dissipation and Quantum Computing Qubits.


M. Heiblum

Fractional charges and their fractional statistics
M. Heiblum, Yunchul Chung, Oern Zarchin, D. Mahalu, V. Umansky

  1.  Charge and statistics of quasiparticles

  2.  Bunching of quasiparticles

  3.  Dilute quasiparticles and their behavior

  4.  High frequency shot noise measurements

Interference and dephasing of electrons
M. Heiblum, M. Avinun, I. Neder, D. Rohrlich, D. Mahalu, H. Shtrikman

  1.  Phase measurements via a double path interferometer

  2.  Controlled dephasing via 'which path?' detector

  3.  Interferometers functioning in a high magnetic field, Mach-Zehnder Interferometer


S. Levit

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.

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.

Non perturbative methods in Quantum Chromodynamics; random colormagnetic fields; matrix models with free random variables.

Quantum Hall effect: Integer and fractional; Chern-Simon' mean field theory; tunneling of anyons; edge states and excitations; composite bosons and fermions.

Non classical light. Squeezed photons in semiconductor microcavities. Anomalous Luminescence. Excitonic effects.


M. Milgrom 

High energy astrophysics: x-ray sources, gamma-ray sources.

Departure from Newtonian dynamics as an explanation of the dark-matter problem in galactic systems.

Black holes at the centers of galaxies


Y. Oreg 

The transmission phase shift through a quantum dot that is coupled to leads and forms a many body state (known as the Kondo resonance) is calculated. This work is related to experimental studies at the Braun Center for Submicron Research at the Weizmann I

A generalization of Hund’s rules to disordered dots.

Several aspects of disorder superconductors and normal metal - superconducting junctions are studied, including the interplay between bosons and fermions in this system.

Luttinger liquids in one-dimensional systems.

Bi-layer systems.


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.

Non-abelian quantum Hall states and topological quantum computation.

Double layer electronic systems.

Low density two dimensional electronic systems.

One dimensional electronic systems.


V. Usov

Physical processes in very strong magnetic fields.
V. Usov, D.B. Melrose, and A.E. Shabad

Physical processes in relativistic electron-positron plasma.

The theory of nonthermal radiation from compact astronomical objects (pulsars, white dwarfs, gamma-ray bursters etc.).
V. Usov, A.K. Harding, D.B. Melrose, and A.G. Muslimov

Physical processes at the surface and astrophysical appearance of strange-quark-matter stars.
V. Usov, A.G. Aksenov, K.S. Cheng, T. Harko, and M. Milgrom

Hydrodynamics and high-energy physics of colliding stellar winds in binary systems.


E. Waxman 

Neutrino astrononmy

Relativistic astrophysics (gamma-ray bursts, relativistic plasmas...)

Ultra-high energy cosmic-rays


E. Zeldov 

High-temperature superconductors

Magneto-optical imaging

Vortex matter phase transitions

Nano-structured superconductors

Vortex dynamics

MgB2 and NbSe2 superconductors

Scanning SQUID microscopy