Physics Department annual progress report 1 January - 31 December 1989

Research in the Physics Department covers two main fields: condensed matter physics and plasma physics. The principal activities in these fields are presented in this Progress Report covering the period from 1 January to 31 December 1989.

The condensed matter physics research is predominantly experimental utilising diffraction of neutrons and x-rays. The research topics range from studies of two-and three-dimensional structures, magnetic ordering, heavy fermions, phase transitions in model systems to studies of texture and recrystallization kinetics with a more applied nature. The discovery of the high T_c superconductors in 1986 has opened an important new research area, where neutron and x-ray diffraction are used to elucidate the basic mechanism responsible for the superconductivity and in the analysis of the solid state syntheses used in producing the materials.

The plasma physics research is partly experimental and partly theoretical. The plasma physics programme is also of a wide scope ranging from fundamental studies of wave propagation, instabilities, solitons and turbulence in plasmas to refuelling a fusion reactor by deuterium-tritium pellets.