Table of contents

This review discusses the construction of a theory and the analysis of phenomena occurring in strongly correlated Fermi systems such as high-T_c superconductors, heavy-fermion metals, and quasi-two-dimensional Fermi systems. It is shown that the basic properties and the universal behavior of strongly correlated Fermi systems can be described in the framework of the Fermi-condensate quantum phase transition and the well-known Landau paradigm of quasiparticles and the order parameter. The concept of fermion condensation may be fruitful in studying neutron stars, finite Fermi systems, ultra-cold gases in traps, and quark plasma.

We consider the optical properties of semiconductor – insulator and insulator – insulator nanocomposites, including porous materials such as silicon, gallium phosphide, aluminum oxide, and structures based on them. The main focus is on the effect of form birefringence, which is caused by the anisotropy of pores in the materials under study. The applicability of the effective medium model for describing the optical properties of nanocomposites is discussed. The effects of light localization due to the scattering of light in such inhomogeneous media are analyzed.

The current theoretical and experimental situations are reviewed for low-dimensional insulating systems with a low magnetic transition temperature T_M and pronounced short-range magnetic order above this temperature. Both the standard and self-consistent spin-wave theories are shown to be insufficient to quantitatively describe the experimental data on these systems. Field-theoretical approaches taking into account the contribution of the spin-fluctuation excitations (neglected in the spin-wave theories) to the thermodynamic properties of ferro- and antiferromagnets are discussed.

A method of reflectance spectrophotometry of atmosphereless bodies of the Solar system, its specificity, and the means of eliminating basic spectral noise are considered. As a development, joining the method of reflectance spectrophotometry with the frequency analysis of observational data series is proposed. The combined spectral-frequency method allows identification of formations with distinctive spectral features, and estimations of their sizes and distribution on the surface of atmospherelss celestial bodies. As applied to investigations of asteroids 21 Lutetia and 4 Vesta, the spectral frequency method has given us the possibility of obtaining fundamentally new information about minor planets.

A scientific session of the Physical Sciences Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) dedicated to the ninetieth birthday of Academician Aleksandr Mikhailovich Prokhorov was held in the Conference Hall of the P N Lebedev Physics Institute, RAS on 25 October 2006. The following reports were presented at the session:

(1) Dianov E M (Fiber Optics Research Center, RAS, Moscow). "A M Prokhorov and quantum electronics"; (2) Karlov N V, Konov V I, Osiko V V, Shcherbakov I A (A M Prokhorov General Physics Institute, RAS, Moscow). "A M Prokhorov: founder of the General Physics Institute".

An abridge version of the reports is given below. • A M Prokhorov and quantum electronics, E M Dianov Physics-Uspekhi, 2007, Volume 50, Number 6, • A M Prokhorov: founder of the General Physics Institute, N V Karlov, V I Konov, V V Osiko, I A Shcherbakov Physics-Uspekhi, 2007, Volume 50, Number 6,