C8. Commission on Semiconductors

26th International Conference on the Physics of Semiconductors
July 29 - August 2, 2002
Edinburgh, UK

Review

The 26th International Conference on the Physics of Semiconductors was held from Monday 29 July to Friday 2 August 2002 at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre. This document provides a brief review of the conference and focuses particularly on the work of the International Programme Committee. Readers may be interested to see the geographical distribution of participants and how the papers were distributed across the major themes of the conference. The policy for the proceedings is described in the final section.

Introduction

The biennial ICPS series began in 1950 and this was the fourth conference in the series to be held in the UK. The conference centre provided excellent modern facilities and was large enough to accommodate over 1000 participants comfortably. Also, its compact layout was particularly well suited to the conference format of plenary sessions, four parallel oral sessions and three poster sessions.

The conference had a truly international flavour with participants attending from over 40 countries. The range of countries was particularly pleasing because a special effort had been made by the organisers to facilitate the participation of colleagues from less affluent nations through the award of some 80 bursaries. As the previous conference in the series had been held in Osaka in 2000, it was appropriate that the largest national contingent came from Japan (223), followed by Germany and the UK. It was also gratifying to have strong representations from the states of the Former Soviet Union and Latin America, and particularly from Russia and Brazil. A full list of the numbers of participant by country is provided in table below.

Programme

Selection of invited speakers

Making up the programme for a large conference such as ICPS involves many people. As the first step, proposals for invited speakers were requested from the International Advisory Committee in late September 2001. More than 130 recommendations were received by mid October 2001, which were sent to the International Programme Committee. Each member was requested to vote for three candidates in order of preference in each of nine categories. Based on these recommendations, with some small changes to allow for scientific balance and geographical spread, the programme chairs chose the first round of 6 plenary and 23 invited speakers.

Abstract Submission

Figure 1: Number of abstracts submitted as a function of time. The fitted line is exponential in time.

The contributed abstracts make up the main content of the conference and we were very pleased that about 1350 abstracts had been received by 1 March 2002. Abstract submission was by a web-based system as 2-page pdf files. Email and postal submissions were also accepted. The use of web-based submission had a dramatic effect on the timing of submissions, with over 500 abstracts being submitted in the 24 hours prior to the deadline, as shown in figure 1. A similar pattern was followed later when the manuscripts of contributed papers were uploaded to the web site for the Proceedings.

Following submission, each abstract was sent for evaluation to three members of the International Programme Committee, with each member refereeing approximately 200 abstracts. They were asked to rate the abstracts on a scale from 1 (poor) to 10 (excellent). Using this grading the programme committee met to choose additional plenary and invited speakers and the oral and poster presentations for each section. They also made recommendations for the young author awards from their particular sections. The final programme was made up of 8 plenary, 34 invited, 172 oral and 842 poster papers, with an overall acceptance rate of 75%. The distribution of submitted and accepted papers over the major topics of the conference is shown in table .

The work of the Programme Committee was substantial and the organisers would like to thank them for their efforts which enabled us to ensure that the conference had a good subject balance; strong, enthusiastic participation; a true international character; and collective decision making.

Table 1: Abstract submissions and acceptances by topic

Section	Submitted	Accepted
Bulk, Dynamics, Defects and Impurities, Growth	342	233
Heterostructures, Quantum Wells, Superlattices - Optical	243	187
Heterostructures, Quantum Wells, Superlattices - Transport	184	144
Quantum Nanostructures - Optical	200	154
Quantum Nanostructures - Transport	123	96
New Materials; New Concepts	108	87
Novel Devices	62	46
Spin Effects	87	61
Totals	1349	1008

The programme

The plenary talks were chosen both because of the excellent quality of the research which they represented and in an effort to pick out interesting new areas into which research efforts are expanding. We were treated to some excellent and stimulating presentations on the following topics.

K1
      Theory of electronic states and transport in carbon nanotubes
      T Ando (Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan)
K2
      Physics of polymer semiconductor devices
      R H Friend (University of Cambridge, UK)
B1
      Quantum optics with quantum dots
      J M Gérard (CEA, Grenoble, France)
B2
      Fractionally charged quasiparticles
      M Heiblum (Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel)
J2
      Superfluid properties of quantum hall ferromagnets
      A MacDonald (University of Texas, USA)
S1
      Carbon nanoelectronics
      P L McEuen (Cornell University, USA)
J1
      Ferromagnetic semiconductor spintronics
      H Ohno (Tohoku University, Japan)
A1
      Unusual physics in III-V alloys: Spontaneous ordering in phosphides, wavefunction localisation in nitrides
      A Zunger (NREL, Golden, USA)

Several trends could be identified in the overall programme of the conference. There were significant contributions from new directions such as nanostructures and one-dimensional physics; spin effects and ferromagnetism; and terahertz and subband physics. These complemented areas in which the conference has traditional strengths, such as defects and bulk materials; crystal growth; quantum transport; and optical properties.

Once the conference began we were impressed by the high scientific quality of the presentations. It was also encouraging to see how speakers took advantage of modern audio-visual techniques to enhance their presentations. This was facilitated by the choice of a modern, purpose-built conference centre where the meeting rooms were well equipped and located close to each other and to the poster presentation area. We were pleased that there were almost no difficulties with the rapid changeover between different electronic presentations and traditional overheads in the sessions.

Table 2: Participants and papers by country

Country	Papers	Participants	Country	Papers	Participants
Japan	205	223	Australia	5	4
Germany	183	177	Colombia	5	3
UK	106	139	Portugal	5	2
USA	93	84	Finland	4	4
Russia	77	33	Lithuania	4	2
France	43	47	Yugoslavia	4	2
Brazil	43	33	Belarus	3	1
Italy	27	25	Thailand	2	2
Switzerland	25	24	Turkey	2	2
Israel	22	24	Argentina	2	1
Canada	18	15	Czech Republic	2	0
Sweden	18	15	New Zealand	1	2
Austria	17	19	Singapore	1	2
Netherlands	17	17	Iran	1	1
Poland	17	12	Norway	1	1
Korea	14	22	Tunisia	1	1
China - Taipei	13	4	Azerbaijan	1	0
Spain	11	12	Iceland	1	0
China - Beijing	10	10	Kazakhstan	1	0
Ukraine	10	3	Chile	0	2
Ireland	9	15	Greece	0	2
Belgium	9	11	Mexico	0	1
Denmark	7	7
Totals	1040	1006

The main function of a conference such as ICPS is the meeting of minds and ideas across a broad range of subjects and countries and we were very pleased that the conference continued its tradition of a wide representation from many different countries. In order to encourage this, some 80 participants received financial assistance from the conference organisation in order to enable them to attend. The overall participation is summarised in table 2, which shows that there were contributions made to the conference from over 40 countries. The assignment of papers to countries has been done by first author alone.

IUPAP Young Author Best Paper Awards

An important part of the conference is the encouragement of young authors at the beginning of their research careers. This was the motivation for the nine IUPAP Young Author Best Paper Awards, which were based on the quality of their abstracts as judged by the programme committee. These came from a wide geographical distribution of laboratories, again emphasizing the strong international nature of semiconductor physics. Seven of the awards were funded by IUPAP and the remaining two by the conference. The following papers were selected.
M2.3
      Momentum-resolved tunnel spectroscopy of integer quantum Hall edges
      M Huber (Technical University Munich, Germany)
M4.2
      Ultrafast carrier dynamics in single wall carbon nanotubes
      J S Lauret (ENS Paris, France)
L2.3
      6 W CW power and 58% conversion efficiency of 0.94 mm submonolayer quantum dot laser
      S S Mikhrin (Ioffe Institute, Russia)
F4.1
      Quantum dots: a source of multicolour photons with tunable statistics and correlated polarization
      U Mizrahi (Technion, Israel)
L4.4
      Optical imaging of charge transport by negatively charged excitons
      F Pulizzi (University of Nijmegen, Netherlands)
C3.3
      Measurements of noise in surface acoustic-wave-based single-electron-transport devices
      A M Robinson (University of Cambridge, UK)
C2.5
      Antibinding biexcitons in self-organised InAs/GaAs quantum dots
      S Rodt (Technical University Berlin, Germany)
F1.4
      Magnetophotoluminescence of bound exciton states in InSb
      J A H Stotz (Simon Fraser University, Canada)
E1.1
      Anisotropy and periodicity in the electron density distribution and the well width fluctuations in a quantum well
      Y Yayon (Weizmann Institute, Israel)

Social Events

Social activities were not neglected at ICPS 26, starting with a successful golf outing to St. Andrews on the Sunday when the sun was still shining. Unfortunately Monday dawned to the rain which was to dog the next three days, but many delegates braved the walk through the historic Grassmarket of the City to get to the Reception that evening. In the Royal Museum we were entertained by Quartz String Quartet and shown the `Lost City' exhibit - the first time these fantastic tapestries have been seen outside China. The malt whisky tasting on Tuesday night at the Royal Society of Edinburgh proved to be a popular event with all tickets sold out within 8 hours! A thoroughly entertaining introduction to the wonders of malt whisky production and tasting by Scotland's premier whisky journalist, Charlie MacLean, ensured that we all knew what we were about to quaff. Wednesday was one of the wettest days that Edinburgh has seen for some years and a nearby lightning strike caused a power cut in the EICC which resulted in an evacuation of the building - such fun! A trip to the Royal Yacht Britannia for the accompanying persons gave a flavour of how the UK royal family live. The Conference dinner at Our Dynamic Earth was attended by about 400 delegates and much brain power was used trying to win the quiz - well done to the winners! The evening was rounded off after the meal by the rain soaked Heriot-Watt University Pipe Band who sent us home to the sounds of the pipes and drums.

Acknowledgments

The Organising Committee would like to thank all those involved in the planning and implementation of the conference, including all of the authors, chairpersons and participants who made the week in Edinburgh a highly stimulating and interesting experience. Special mention should be made of the postdocs and students from Sheffield, Glasgow, and Heriot-Watt Universities who helped with the programme, the proceedings, and at the conference itself. We also thank our colleagues at the Institute of Physics for their assistance with the organisation and for the friendly and efficient service that they provided during the conference.

The conference was sponsored and supported by IUPAP and the Organising Committee is grateful for the help and advice provided by the IUPAP Semiconductor Commission. The other major sponsors of the conference were the European Commission, the Institute of Physics, the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the US Navy. We are grateful to all of those organisations and to our other sponsors for their generous support. A full list of conference sponsors is given below.

The Organising Committee is grateful for the invaluable advice and support it received from the International Programme and International Advisory Committees. The time and effort given by the members of those two committees was essential in putting together what we believe was an exciting and highly topical scientific programme.

Sponsors and supporters

The organisers are very grateful for the generous support received from the following organisations.

• International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP)
• European Commission
• Institute of Physics and its groups:
  • Electron Microscopy and Analysis Group
    
  • Quantum Electronics and Photonics Group
    
  • Semiconductor Physics Group
    
  • Theory of Condensed Matter Group
    
  • Thin Films and Surfaces Group
• Institute of Physics Publishing Ltd
  
• Filtronic
  
• National Microelectronics Institute
  
• Nature Publications
  
• Toshiba Research Europe Ltd
  
• United Kingdom Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
  
• United States Navy, Office of Naval Research, International Field Office

Committees

Organising Committee

                    L Eaves, University of Nottingham               Chairman
                    R A Abram, University of Durham                Secretary
                    R J Nicholas, University of Oxford                Programme
                    M S Skolnick, University of Sheffield            Programme
                    G J Rees, University of Sheffield                   Treasurer
                    M J Kelly, University of Surrey                     Sponsorship
                    J H Davies, University of Glasgow                Proceedings
                    A R Long, University of Glasgow                 Proceedings
                    P Harrison, University of Leeds                     Publicity
                    I Galbraith, Heriot-Watt University                Local Organiser
                    J M Smith, Heriot-Watt University                Exhibition
                    A R Adams, University of Surrey                  General
                    B C Cavenett, Heriot-Watt University           General
                    P C Main, University of Nottingham             General
                    C R Pidgeon, Heriot-Watt University             General

IUPAP C8 Commission on Semiconductors

                    M Caldas, Brazil                                       E Molinari, Italy
                    M Cardona, Germany                               C A Murray, USA
                    E Gornik, Austria                                      R Ott, Switzerland
                    M Grynberg, Poland                                 M S Skolnick, UK
                    M Heiblum, Israel                                     L Viña, Spain
                    K Kash, USA                                          R Woltjer, Netherlands
                    J-Y Marzin, France                                  J F Young, Canada
                    N Miura, Japan

International Programme Committee

                    S J Allen, USA                                        E L Ivchenko, Russia
                    T Ando, Japan                                         R Jones, UK
                    I Bar-Joseph, Israel                                  J Langer, Poland
                    F Beltram, Italy                                        D Lockwood, Canada
                    G Bastard, France                                   A Nurmikko, USA
                    G Bauer, Austria                                      P Omling, Sweden
                    D Bimberg, Germany                               F Peeters, Belgium
                    G Davies, UK                                         M Pepper, UK
                    B Deveaud, Switzerland                          C M Sotomayor Torres, Germany
                    K Eberl, Germany                                   R A Stradling, UK
                    B Gil, France                                          C Tejedor, Spain

International Advisory Committee

                    D Auret, South Africa                               J Kossut, Poland
                    G Bauer, Netherlands                               J Kotthaus, Germany
                    C Beenakker, Netherlands                       V D Kulakovskii, Russia
                    M Capizzi, Italy                                        J C Maan, Netherlands
                    T Chakraborty, India                                X Marie, France
                    E Cohen, Israel                                         L Molenkamp, Germany
                    R Cingolani, Italy                                       B Monemar, Sweden
                    M Combescot, France                              N Miura, Japan
                    J Devreese, Belgium                                  A Oral, Turkey
                    K Ensslin, Switzerland                               E P O'Reilly, Ireland
                    J Faist, Switzerland                                   D Pfannkuche, Germany
                    J Gaj, Poland                                            F Ponce, USA
                    W Ge, China                                             N Sawaki, Japan
                    E Gornik, Austria                                      B Shklovskii, USA
                    E E Haller, USA                                       M Simmons, Australia
                    C Hamaguchi, Japan                                 P L Souza, Brazil
                    H Jackson, USA                                      H L Stormer, USA
                    A-P Jauho, Denmark                                L Vina, Spain
                    K von Klitzing, Germany                           B Zhu, China

Proceedings

The printed volume and its accompanying CD-ROM contain manuscripts of most of the papers presented at the conference. The printed volume contains the plenary and invited papers for which manuscripts were submitted. Both these and the contributed papers are included on the CD.
The use of a CD has allowed all authors eight pages in which to report their work without the penalty of bulky, multiple volumes in paper. Moreover, the lower cost has allowed us to send the CD to all student participants, who often received no Proceedings in the past. It has also made possible the use of colour, at no extra cost, as well as animations, hyperlinks and electronic searching - the facilities now expected from electronic journals. For example, you can browse the contents by the sequence in which papers were presented at the conference, reorganised by scientific theme, or look through the author index. All these lists are indexed and can be searched, rendering the traditional list of keywords obsolete. Detailed instructions are given in a separate document.

The plenary and invited papers have been reviewed for content, style and presentation by the Editors. It is a pleasure to record that only minor editing of the content was required. About a third of the papers were submitted using LATEX and required little effort to bring into a harmonious appearance. The remaining papers were prepared using Microsoft Word, which was very time-consuming to process where the formatting did not match the desired style. The Editors hope never to have to deal with a Word document again!

In order that participants could present a detailed and up-to-date account of their work, we decided that the contributed manuscripts should not be refereed in detail after being accepted by the International Programme Committee; the review of such a large number of manuscripts would have led to a significant delay between the submission date and the production of the Proceedings. We have tried to ensure that the CD can be used successfully with standard software, anywhere in the world, and the Editors would like to thank authors for the time they have spent to produce files that meet this specification.

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On 10 Dec 2002, 16:46.