C10. Commission on Structure and Dynamics of Condensed Matter

2001 Report
Submitted by Cherry Murray, Current Chair of C10

Unexpectedly, neither Pierre Monceau, current Secretary of C10, nor myself are able to attend the chairs meeting in Mexico City. Dr. Monceau had to cancel his flight at the last minute. The following is a short summary of where C10 stands.

This year, I have been preoccupied with the turmoil in Lucent and the telecommunications industry, and so I did not put in the effort to have a commission meeting as I had hoped to do sometime this past summer in Europe. My responsibilities at Bell Labs have grown in the last few years as I have progressed through the ranks to the point where I feel it would be best for IUPAP for me not to continue as Chair when my term is up in March, 2002. I have enjoyed working these several years with IUPAP and especially meeting interesting people and dealing with global issues in science. The Commission has been doing what business it has had by email. I am also grateful to Fritz Parak and to Hiroshi Yasuoka for standing in for me as Chair and being the local host, respectively, for the meeting of the International Committee on the Future of Neutron Sources that was held in November, 2000 at ISSP in Japan.

I hope that both Fritz and Hiroshi can speak about the success of that meeting and comment on the success or lack thereof of the Working Group on Facilities for Condensed Matter Physics, which has a charter to

1) Promote international collaboration for planning, construction and exploitation of large facilities for condensed matter, including the need for new sources and upgrades to existing sources, instrumentation requirements, availability access and long range planning.

2) Organize international meetings for exchange of information on future plans for regional facilities and the formation of advice for joint studies and uses of facilities.

3) Organize international workshops for the study of problems related to large facilities and to foster research and development on necessary technology.

The initial membership of WGFCMP are the chairs of the IUPAP condensed matter commissions,
1) C3 ( statistical physics)- K. Binder,
2) C5 ( low temperature physics ) - H. Godfrin,
3) C6 ( biological physics )- F. Parak, Vice Chair
4) C8 ( semiconductor physics)- M. Cardona,
5) C9 ( magnetism)- H. Yasuoka,
6) C10 ( structure and dynamics of condensed matter)- C. Murray , Chair and other members appointed by these commissions with the acceptance of the Chair,
7) M.. Blume and
8) J. L. Moran-Lopez .

Ken Ando, Vice Chairman of C10, has requested that he step down as he was changing his job. In line with IUPAP procedures I hereby request that Pierre Monceau, currently Secretary of the Commision also take on the duty as Vice Chair, and serve using both posts until the General Assembly, when new members and officers will be elected. Pierre has agreed to take it on.

Commission C-10 has sponsored one conference in June, 2000 - The 2000 International Conference on Excitonic Processes in Condensed Matter in Kobe Japan.

Concerning the ICPPP conference ( 12th International Conference on Photoacoustic and Photo thermal Phenomena) originally sent to the C15 commission , but R.C. Barber thought should be considered for C10, this conference is strongly based on applications, and did not appear to be consistent with C10 sponsorship. We have 3 other conferences in C10 asking the IUPAP sponsorship in 2001:

The 7th Int. conference on the Structure of surfaces ( Newcastle- Austrlia)- Recommendation after comments by C10 members: the majority favored sponsorship

The 5th Int. Conference on Exitonic Processes ( Darwin- Australia) -Recommendation after comments from C10 members:

The topic is in principle a good one but, even after four EXCON conferences (all supported by IUPAP), the attendance is still less than half the minimum number normally required for a Topical (Type B) Conference. The attendance has been rising slowly, but is anticipated to drop back for EXCON'02. It also worries us that 3 of the first 5 EXCON conferences will be held in an area of the world (Australia/Japan) which makes it very difficult and expensive for most researchers to attend, and that the conference is returning to a previous location so soon.
On a technical point, the registration fee is given as $400.00, but it is not indicated whether this is Australian or US dollars? If it is meant to be $US, it exceeds the amount currently allowed by IUPAP.
The EXCON series has been given sufficient opportunity to prove that it is truly an International Topical Conference that merits IUPAP support and has failed to do so. We therefore recommend that IUPAP not support EXCON'02. If IUPAP should decide to support this conference, the amount of the support should not be more than $US5000.

The 2th Int. meeting on Photodynamics ( Cuba)-
Recommendation after comments from C10 members: sponsor as a small conference.

There has been no further discussion of the possibility of merging the IUPAP condensed matter commissions together, but the WGFCMP should be a vehicle for more communication and interactions between the commissions. Unfortunately , this requires an active Chair and more interest from the condensed matter community in facilities.

Cherry Murray
Chair, C10