Solid State Physics Department of Moscow Institute

The solid state physics department was formed at Institute of Solid State Physics (ISSP) RAS in 1984.

Since its origin the department was focused on training specialists with profound knowledge of the fundamentals of solid state physics, its structural and electron aspects. The leading scientists of ISSP and Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics became lecturers of the department. This teaching cooperation maintained over the years is also beneficial to the students of the solid state physics department and the department for problems of theoretical physics (Landau Institute).

By 2008 the Department numbered over 300 graduates and nearly 100 PhDs. 68 graduates are now working at ISSP RAS and 14 – at Institute of Microelectronics Technology RAS, two of them are RAS corresponding members and 22 DPils. It means that the Department is the principal instrument of training physicists for Chernogolovka. It is far more difficult to follow the careers of other graduates. However, now and then we receive news of their achievements from various parts of the world. Some of them hold professorships in prestigious universities and scientific centers of Great Britain, Germany, Israel, the USA.

The students of the Department start visiting ISSP laboratories at the 2^nd course (4^th term) and choose their field of scientific interest. During the educational process students can attend massive lecture programs on a wide range of scientific problems in practically all trends of fundamental research made at ISSP RAS. This includes basic courses – electron, optical, magnetic and structural properties of metals, semiconductors, dielectrics, including laboratory practice, - as well as courses devoted to contemporary fields of solid state physics in which ISSP is the world leader, i.e. low-dimensional, mesoscopic and strongly correlated electron quantum systems, disordered condensed matter. Besides, at the beginning of the sixth term annual lecture series are given by the leading scientists of ISSP under the general title “Recent Achievements in Solid State Physics”. Each annual lecture series includes up to ten lectures dedicated to recent world discoveries as well as recent achievements and developments made at ISSP. By the end of the 3^rd course students make their final choice of the laboratory and supervisor of their diploma work. They have at their disposal state-of-the-art equipment and research techniques: ultralow temperatures and strong magnetic fields, high pressure and ultrahigh vacuum, electron and atomic-force microscopes, automatic measurement units equipped with sensitive and precision instruments that enable research in all spectral ranges. At the 4^th course students spend 4 days at ISSP and at the end of the academic year they defend their Bachelor graduation papers. Successful students continue their education at the 5^th and 6^th course along with work at their Master diploma at ISSP.

In Chernogolovka the students of the Department are provided with hostel accommodation. They are taken on the ISSP staff as engineers (part-time). Beginning with the 2^nd term of the 1^st course successful students get ISSP personal scholarships. Besides, laboratories have project incentives for additional remuneration of students. Successful graduates can enter the postgraduate school of ISSP RAS or that of Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and have training courses in world leading scientific centers. This is the way that has been recently followed by most students and postgraduates devoting their life to solid state physics.

Despite its solid forty-year experience, the solid state physics department is still developing and searching ways for further improvement. Two textbooks based on the lecture courses have been published. Postgraduate students of the Department are now also involved in lecturing. Preparations are being made for a radical update of practical training. ISSP is in constant search for additional funding for laboratory equipment renewal, refurbishing lecture rooms and increasing scholarships and research grants. Much attention is also given to improvement of students’ living conditions.