Physics in One Dimension
JAMES A. KRUMHANSL · Europhysics news · 1981
After two years of planning by a number of physicists who recognized an identity of interests among their generally disjointed subfields of condensed matter, a meeting sponsored by EPS, on Physics in One Di mension was held in Fribourg, Switzerland on 24-29 August with as main organizers J. Bernasconi and R. Orbach.The pro gramme emphasized Nonlinear Pheno mena, Disorder and Localization, Lattice Dynamics, Magnetic Chain Systems, Con ducting Polymers, and 1-D Conductors.It was apparent from the beginning that the planning committee's hopes were be ing met: the participants shared many common interests and a high level of atten dance was maintained throughout the week.Although the phenomena which were discussed occur generally for all con densed matter systems, they are strongly enhanced in highly anisotropic or nearly one-dimensional materials -it is this feature which brought together many par ticipants who recognized the similarity of concepts which have arisen in vastly dif ferent experimental contexts.