Solid-State Physics, Institute of

(full name, Institute of Solid-state Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR), a scientific research institution where research is conducted on the structure and physical properties of crystals and the processes of crystallization from the liquid and gaseous phases and where methods are developed for producing ultrapure substances and new structural materials.

The institute was founded in 1963 at the Noginsk Scientific Center of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR (Chernogolovka Post Office, Noginsk Raion, Moscow Oblast) by the academician G. V. Kurdiumov, who was also its first director. Since 1973 the director has been Iu. A. Osip’ian, a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, who actually supervised the creation of the institute.

The photoplastic effect was detected and studied at the institute for the first time, and the phenomenon of the deep anomalous penetration of metals by radio waves was discovered and studied. The institute has also conducted detailed studies of defects in crystals and the condensation of nonequilibrium electron-hole pairs in some semiconductors; developed methods of producing and analyzing ultrapure metals, such as Ag, In, Cu, Ni, and Co; and produced new structural materials, such as composite materials, heat-resistant structural steels, and internally oxidized alloys.