Education

The educational mission of the Faculty of Physics is to train highly qualified research physicists in fundamental and applied physics who can pursue academic careers or work in applied research laboratories and high-tech business. Training is based on involving students in real scientific research.

The faculty provides fundamental education in physics at the undergraduate level, specialised theoretical and practical professional knowledge in the master’s programme, and dissertation preparation in a scientific specialty in graduate school.

Educational programmes of the faculty:

• Bachelor’s in Physics
  The academic supervisor of the programme is Irina Bobkova, PhD, Laboratory Head at MIPT.

• Master’s in Physics
  The academic supervisor of the programme is Vladimir Lebedev, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, PhD, Senior Researcher at the Higher School of Economics.

Undergraduate and graduate studies take place at two sites:

1.    General basic education (including lectures, seminars and educational laboratory work) takes place at HSE University. The general cycle of study in the bachelor’s degree consists of four blocks: General Physics, Mathematics, Computational Physics and Theoretical Physics. The curricula of these blocks cover all sections of modern physics and higher mathematics and are developed under the guidance of professional physicists with rich experience in university education: Vasiliy Glazkov, PhD; Igor Kolokolov, PhD; Konstantin Tikhonov, PhD; and Igor Burmistrov, PhD.

2.    Specialised education (starting from the third year) and research work take place at the basic departments and laboratories of the basic institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

This approach gives physics students access to modern scientific equipment and immerses them in an environment characterised by a ‘critical mass’ of physicists who are able to set, discuss and solve new research problems.

Key features of the educational programmes of the Faculty of Physics:

• Fundamental training in physics, mathematics and computer methods: training sessions (compulsory courses and optional tracks) are conducted by leading scientists of the basic institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences, which ensures that courses cover the latest developments in physics and achieve the highest scientific level of teaching.
• Access to modern equipment and the opportunity to conduct experiments: 4th-year undergraduate and graduate students spend most of their time in the scientific laboratories of the institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences. 1^st–3^rd-year bachelor’s students engage in educational laboratory work that approaches the solution of problems in modern research fields.
• Immersion in research teams that can set, discuss and solve new problems: student internship programmes at leading universities and research centres, inviting reputable world-class scientists to conduct seminars and give mini-courses.
• A wide range of opportunities for obtaining entrepreneurial competencies and implementing business ideas: students have the opportunity to supplement their educational trajectory with programmes for developing entrepreneurial competencies, find like-minded people to implement business ideas, and participate in competitions held by the HSE to support entrepreneurship.

By choosing a basic department, students determine their individual educational trajectory. A basic department is a form of interaction between the university and other organisations that facilitates scientific or industrial training. At the Faculty of Physics, the basic organisations are the institutes of the Department of Physical Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The faculty currently has six basic departments at six institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

In addition to general faculty classes, students in the third and fourth years spend 1–2 days a week in basic institutes, where researchers of the selected institute run a series of courses and provide scientific guidance. Classes are held in small groups of 8–10 people, which allows for an individual approach to each student. Each department has its own unique pool of academic disciplines. The main areas of training at the basic departments of the Faculty of Physics are:

‘CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS’ BASIC DEPARTMENT OF THE INSTITUTE OF SOLID STATE PHYSICS OF THE RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Department Head: Vladimir Kulakovsky, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, PhD, Professor, Chief Researcher of the ISSP RAS.

Areas of training:

• Physics and technology of semiconductors and hybrid nano-and heterostructures
• Physics of coherent electronic systems
• Physics of nonlinear phenomena in condensed matter
• Physical materials science

‘LOW TEMPERATURE PHYSICS’ BASIC DEPARTMENT OF THE KAPITSA INSTITUTE OF PHYSICAL PROBLEMS OF THE RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Department Head: Alexander Smirnov, PhD, Professor, Leading Researcher at IPP RAS.

Areas of training:

• Quantum liquids and crystals
• Superconductivity
• Surface Physics
• Low-temperature magnetism

‘THEORETICAL PHYSICS’ BASIC DEPARTMENT OF THE LANDAU INSTITUTE OF THEORETICAL PHYSICS OF THE RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Department Head: Igor Kolokolov, PhD, Professor, Deputy Director of the Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics at RAS.

Areas of training:

• Condensed matter physics
• Superconductivity and superfluidity
• Physical phenomena in low-dimensional mesoscopic systems
• Nonlinear dynamics and turbulence
• Astrophysics and cosmology
• Physics of quantum computing
• Computational physics

‘SPACE PHYSICS’ BASIC DEPARTMENT OF THE SPACE RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF THE RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Department Head: Lev Zeleny, PhD, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Scientific Supervisor at IKI RAS.

Areas of training:

• High-energy astrophysics
• Space plasma physics
• Solar physics

‘QUANTUM OPTICS AND NANOPHOTONICS’ BASIC DEPARTMENT OF THE INSTITUTE OF SPECTROSCOPY OF THE RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Department Head: Viktor Zadkov, PhD, Director of ISAN.

Areas of training:

• Spectroscopy of atoms, molecules, and condensed matter
• Quantum optics, nanostructure optics, plasmonics, near-field optics
• Laser spectroscopy and its applications in physics, photochemistry, analytical chemistry, etc
• Analytical spectroscopy and the development of devices for research in biology, medicine, ecology, etc

‘QUANTUM TECHNOLOGIES’ BASIC DEPARTMENT OF THE PROKHOROV GENERAL PHYSICS INSTITUTE OF THE RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Department Head: Konstantin Eltsov, PhD, Head of the Department of Technologies and Measurements of Atomic Scale at GPI RAS.

Areas of training:

• Creation and management of elements of quantum computers
• Creation and management of quantum communication networks
• Quantum computing
• Ultrashort laser pulses and super-powerful electromagnetic fields
• Nanomagnetism and spintronics