Institute for Low Temperature Physics and Engineering

  Department of Spectroscopy of Molecular Systems and Nanostructured Materials

Department Head:   Doctors of Sciences  Gennadii V. KAMARCHUK

tel.: +(380)-57-341-09-18 
fax: +(380)-57-340-33-70

E-mail: kamarchuk@ilt.kharkov.ua

The Department was created in 1965 for the purpose of carrying out spectroscopic studies of gaseous and solid rare elements in the vacuum ultraviolet spectral range (6-20 eV). In the late 1980’s, the research area of the Department was extended to include spectroscopic studies of high-temperature superconductors. In 2000, the research team of the Candidate of Physico-Mathematical Sciences E.T. Verkhovtseva specializing in spectroscopic and structural studies of substrate-free clusters of molecular and rare gases joined the Department. In 2014, the Department was reinforced with a new team led by the Doctor of Physico-Mathematical Sciences G.V. Kamarchuk which specializes in Yanson point-contact spectroscopy of nanostructured materials.

Until 1999, the Department was headed by the winner of the State Prize of Ukraine, Honoured Science and Engineering Worker of Ukraine, Doctor of Physico-Mathematical Sciences, Professor Irina Ya. Fugol; in the 1999-2014 period, the head of the Department was the Doctor of Physico-Mathematical Sciences Vladimir N. Samovarov; since 2014, the Department has been under the guidance of the Doctor of Physico-Mathematical Sciences Gennadii V. Kamarchuk.

The main research areas of the Department:

– Spectroscopic and structural studies of condensed molecular systems and nanostructured materials, including atomic and molecular cryocrystals, substrate-free clusters of rare and molecular gases;

– Investigation of spectral and nonlinear electric current phenomena in low-dimensional systems and nanostructured materials, as well as of gas-sensitive and sensor properties of point-contact structures.

Among the awards conferred on the researchers of the Department, these could be highlighted in the first place: State Prize of Ukraine (І.Ya. Fugol, 1977), N. Ostrovsky Prize of the Central Committee of Lenin’s Komsomol of Ukraine (G.V. Kamarchuk, 1988), A.F. Prikhotko and I. Puluj Prizes of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (E.V. Savchenko, 2001, and E.V. Gnatchenko, 2003, respectively).

The Department has collaborated with research centres in Germany, France, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Austria, USA and Japan as well as engaged in the international scientific publishing activities: G.V. Kamarchuk is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Breath Research (UK) and Universal Journal of Materials Science (USA), while E.V. Savchenko and V.N.Samovarov are members of the editorial board of Low Temperature Physics (Ukraine).

Some of the recent scientific publications by the researchers of the Department:

  1. G.V. Kamarchuk, A.V. Khotkevich, V.M. Bagatsky, A.V. Kravchenko, Point-contact spectroscopy of organic conductors, in Spectroscopy of Superconducting Materials, ed. by E. Faulques (American Chemical Society Symposium series 730), Oxford University Press, Washington D.C., 1999, chap. 14, pp. 196-216;

  2. E.V. Savchenko and Yu.A. Dmitriev, New Aspects of Relaxation Processes in Cryogenic Solids, in Applied Physics in the 21st Century, ed. by Raymond P. Valencia (Horizons in World Physics 269), Nova Science Publishers, New York, 2010, pp. 113-162;

  3. G.V. Kamarchuk, A.P. Pospelov, I.G. Kushch, Sensors for exhaled gas analysis: an analytical review, in Volatile biomarkers: non-invasive diagnosis in physiology and medicine, ed. by A. Amann and D. Smith, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2013, chap. 15, pp. 265-300.

  4. V.N. Samovarov, V.L. Vakula, M.Yu. Libin, Antiferromagnetic correlations in superconducting YBa2Cu3O6+x samples from optical absorption data; comparison with the results of neutron and muon experiments, Low Temp. Phys. 29, 982 (2003);

  5. V.N. Samovarov, V.L. Vakula, Stripe order and pseudogap state in YBa2Cu3O6+x as seen from magnon-assisted interband absorption, Physica C 433, 1 (2005);

  6. O.G. Danylchenko, Yu.S. Doronin, S.I. Kovalenko, V.N. Samovarov, Phase separation into pure components in mixed Ar-Xe clusters, JETP Letters 84, 324 (2006);

  7. G.V. Kamarchuk, O.P. Pospelov, A.V. Yeremenko, E. Faulques, I.K. Yanson. Point-contact sensors: New prospects for a nanoscale sensitive technique, Europhys. Lett. 76, 575 (2006);

  8. O.G. Danylchenko, Yu.S. Doronin, S.I. Kovalenko, M.Yu. Libin, V.N. Samovarov, V.L. Vakula, Luminescence evidence for bulk and surface excitons in free xenon clusters, Phys. Rev. A 76, 043202 (2007);

  9. A.G. Danil’chenko, S.I. Kovalenko, V.N. Samovarov, Electron diffraction analysis of the FCC–HCP transition in argon clusters with a change in cluster size, Low Temp. Phys. 34, 966 (2008);

  10. G.V. Kamarchuk, I.G. Kolobov, A.V. Khotkevich, I.K. Yanson, A.P. Pospelov, I.A. Levitsky, W.B. Euler, New chemical sensors based on point heterocontact between single wall carbon nanotubes and gold wires, Sensor. Actuat. B 134, 1022 (2008);

  11. A.G. Danil’chenko, S.I. Kovalenko, V.N. Samovarov, Observation of the coexistence of crystalline and liquid-like states in krypton-doped argon clusters, Low Temp. Phys. 34, 1030 (2008);

  12. E.V. Savchenko, I.V. Khyzhniy, S.A. Uyutnov, G.B. Gumenchuk, A.N. Ponomaryov, V.E. Bondybey, Radiation effects in atomic cryogenic solids, Nucl. Instrum. Meth. B 268, 3239 (2010);

  13. Yu.S. Doronin, M.Yu. Libin, V.N. Samovarov, V.L. Vakula, Spectroscopic observation of (N2)2 dimers in free icosahedral N2 and Ar-N2 clusters, Phys. Rev. A 84, 023201 (2011);

  14. R.E. Boltnev, I.B. Bykhalo, I.N. Krushinskaya, A.A. Pelmenev, V.V. Khmelenko, D.M. Lee, I.V. Khyzhniy, S.A. Uyutnov, E.V. Savchenko, A.N. Ponomaryov, G.B. Gumenchuk, V.E. Bondybey, Comparative study of thermostimulated luminescence and electron emission of nitrogen nanoclusters and films, Low Temp. Phys. 39, 580 (2013);

  15. E.V. Savchenko, I.V. Khyzhniy, S.A. Uyutnov, A.P. Barabashov, G.B. Gumenchuk, M.K. Beyer, A.N. Ponomaryov, V.E. Bondybey, Radiation effects in solid nitrogen and nitrogen-containing matrices: fingerprints of N4+ species, J. Phys. Chem. A 119, 2475 (2015);

  16. O.G. Danylchenko, S.I. Kovalenko, O.P. Konotop, V.N. Samovarov, Composition of Ar–Kr, Kr–Xe, and N2–Ar clusters produced by supersonic expansion of gas mixtures, J. Clust. Sci. 26, 863 (2015);

  17. A.P. Pospelov, A.I. Pilipenko, G.V. Kamarchuk, V.V. Fisun, I.K. Yanson, E. Faulques, A new method for controlling the quantized growth of dendritic nanoscale point contacts via switchover and shell Effects, J. Phys. Chem. C 119, 632 (2015);

  18. E. Savchenko, I. Khyzhniy, S. Uyutnov, A. Barabashov, G. Gumenchuk, A. Ponomaryov, V. Bondybey, Charged defects and defect-induced processes in nitrogen films, Physica Status Solidi C 12, 49 (2015).

The Department’s staff consists of 17 members and 3 post-graduate students, among them 3 Doctors of Sciences and 5 Candidates of Sciences. The researcher I.V. Khyzhniy is the Head of the Council of Young Scientists and Specialists of B. Verkin Institute for Low Temperature Physics and Engineering.