From Rontgen to Ioffe, from Giessen to Saint Petersburg - relations between Russian and German physics

Two former professors of physics at Giessen university contributed signific antly to the development of the Ioffe Institute: Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen as a teacher of Abram Ioffe, and Wilhelm Hanle, whose effect found various app lications, e.g., in the spectroscopy of hot electrons in low-dimensional st ructures. A few examples will illustrate how topics of their scientific wor k found a continuation in the research activities at Giessen, but also in t he collaboration between Giessen and Saint Petersburg. They range from sodi um chloride, the old Rontgen/Ioffe material where we could prove the existe nce of an unusual isotope effect in nickel-doped crystals, over level-cross ing experiments in gases, to GaAs/AlAs superlattices, where level-anticross ing spectroscopy of excitons reveals detailed information about recombinati on processes and interface quality. A short summary of the efforts to keep the traditionally close and good relations between Russian and German physi cs vital completes the report. (C) 1999 American Institute of Physics. [S10 63-7834(99)01505-1].