Laboratory of electron kinetics was founded in 1974 on the basis of existing body of scientists engaged in fermistic who were dealing mainly with high-purity metals with long mean free path. All the scientific subjects under study at that time belonged to the field of fermistic. Among the most important results of that period:

transverse focusing of carriers in metals by magnetic field was discovered; this paved new approach for studies of specular reflection of carriers from the metal surface (V.S.Tsoi; see, for instance, review in Soviet Science Review 2, 395 (1980), Gordon and Breach);

several mechanisms of sound generation by electromagnetic waves, all specific for low temperatures, were disclosed and studied (V.F.Gantmakher and V.T.Dolgopolov; see Sov.Phys.-JETP 30, 78 (1970);

stable current states induced by an electromagnetic wave incident at the surface of semimetals were discovered (V.T.Dolgopolov; see review in Sov.Phys.-Uspekhi 130, 241 (1980);

it was demonstrated that dc magnetic field far below the critical one destroyed superconductivity by the help of high-amplitude ac magnetic field which penetrated to the skin-depth in In, Sn, Pb (V.T.Dolgopolov and S.S.Murzin, Sov.Phys.-JETP 46, 1195 (1977);

static skin-effect in metals was studied experimentally (S.S.Murzin, Sov.Phys.-JETP 55, 298, (1982);

it was demonstrated that quantum oscillations of conductivity in bismuth had smaller period near the crystal surface that in the bulk (S.S.Murzin and V.T.Dolgopolov, JETP Lett. 37, 696 (1983);

anisotropy of electron-phonon scattering rate and of scattering by dislocations was measured along the fermi-surfaces of noble metals (V.F.Gantmakher, V.A.Gasparov, G.I.Kulesko; see book by V.F.Gantmakher and Y.B.Levinson. Carrier scattering in metals and semiconductors. North-Holland (Amsterdam) 1987);

a number of nonlinear microwave effects in metals with long mean free path were found. (G.I.Leviev, M.R.Trunin, S.A.Vitkalov, V.F.Gantmakher; see review by G.I.Leviev, Soviet Scientific Reviews/Section A 11, 105 (1989); Harwood Academic Publishers):

• plasma echo in metals;
• nonlinear cyclotron resonans in bismuth;
• nonlinear resonances on skipping electron trajectories near the metal surface;
• threshold generation of microwave harmonics in a solid-state plasma and parametric excitation of hypersound;
• magneto-acousto-electro-instabilities in dc and high-frequency electric fields;

dispersion of cyclotron waves in bismuth was studied (M.R.Trunin, Sov.Phys.- JETP 63, 392 (1986); M.R.Trunin and V.S.Edel'man, Sov.Phys.- JETP 65, 560 (1987).

When it became clear that expansion of fermistic was coming to the end, scientists of the laboratory set out in search of new topics. In particular, series of investigations of low-temperature photoconductivity of semiconductors was performed (V.F.Gantmakher, V.N.Zverev, D.V.Shovkun). In the course of these studies, several new phenomena were observed (see review by V.F.Gantmakher and V.N.Zverev. Magnetoimpurity resonances in semiconductor transport. in Landau Level Spectroscopy (ed. G.Landwehr and E.Rashba, North-Holl.1135-1180 (1991)):

• low-temperature magnetoimpurity oscillations in photoexcited Ge and GaAs;
• inversion of magnetoimpurity oscillations of the photoconductivity in Ge;
• magnetic-field-controlled resonances in photoconductivity of Ge determined by capture of photoexcited holes by acceptors accompanied by emission of optical phonons;
• quantum oscillations of photocurrent under intense photoexcitation of doped Ge determined by percolation in the system of electron-hole droplets.

In the late eighties, studies of electrons in disordered media and of interactions between delocalized electrons at low temperatures became the main scope of the laboratory activity. This is the next, higher level of studies of electrons in solids as compared to fermistic. In particular, it includes localization and metal-insulator transitions. Several specific aspects of superconductivity, such as superconductor-insulator transitions and high-temperature superconductivity, are also under study.

The most full comprehension on the achievements of the laboratory during 1990-1997 can be obtained from the list of main publications (see the latter publications in Publications):

V.F.Gantmakher, A.M.Neminsky, D.V.Shovkun et al. ac-susceptibility and dependence of T_c on the oxygen distribution along the Cu-O chains in the high temperature superconductor YBaCuO. Sov. Phys. - JETP Lett. 51, 471 (1990); 52, 630 (1990); Physica C 177, 469 (1991); 192, 481 (1992).

S.S.Murzin Suppression of localization in quasi-1D systems by electromagnetic fluctuation. JETP Lett. 55, 696 (1992).

V.F.Gantmakher, V.N.Zverev, V.M.Teplinskii, et al., Metal-insulator transition and evolution of the superconductive transition along with amorphization of metastable antimony-based alloys. JETP 74, 905 (1992); 76, 714 (1993); 77, 513 (1993); 78, 226 (1994); 82, 951 (1996); JETP Lett. 56, 309 (1992); 57 390 (1993); 59, 446 (1994); 59, 874 (1994); 61, 606 (1995); 62, 887 (1995); 64, 767 (1996); J.Phys.: Condens. Matter 9, 9873 (1997).

G.I.Leviev, M.R.Trunin, et al. Nonlinear microwave response of of high-T_c superconductors. J. Phys. III France 2, 355 (1992); JETP Lett. 50, 88 (1989); 62, 42 (1995); JETP 72, 201 (1991); 103, 942 (1993)(rus); Phys. Rev. B 49, 6280 (1994); Physica C 235-240, 2023, 2068 (1994); Sov. J. Low Temp. Phys. 22, 1195 (1996); Supercond. Sci. Technol. 10, 590 (1997); IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. 7, 1220, (1997).

S.S.Murzin et al. Tree-dimensional Hall-insulator in the extreme quantum limit of the applied magnetic field. JETP Lett. 44, 56 (1986); J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 4, 2201 (1992).

S.S.Murzin et al. Electron transport in the extreme quantum limit of applied magnetic field. JETP Lett. 54, 161 (1991); 58, 289 (1993).

A.M.Neminsky, D.V.Shovkun, et al. Temperature dependence of the magnetic field penetration depth in Rb₃C₆₀ measured by ac-susceptibility. Phys. Rev. Lett. 72, 3092, (1994); Phys. Rev. B 54, 454, (1995).

M.R.Trunin, A.A.Zhukov, A.T.Sokolov, Yu.A.Nefyodov, et al. ab-plane microwave surface impedance and comlex conductivity of high-Tc single crystals: experiment. JETP Lett. 64, 832 (1996); 65, 938 (1997); JETP 84, 383 (1997); JETP 85, 1211 (1997).

M.R.Trunin, A.A.Zhukov, Yu.A.Nefyodov, A.A.Golubov, et al. ab-plane microwave surface impedance and comlex conductivity of high-Tc single crystals: theory. Physica C 213, 139 (1993); JETP Lett. 58, 40 (1993); 62, 496 (1995); J.Phys.I France 6, 2275 (1996).

V.F.Gantmakher, Tsydynzhapov, et al. Temperature dependence of upper critical field in high temperature superconductors. Phys.Rev. B54, 6133 (1996); JETP Lett. 65, 870 (1997).