2003/12/03 by Yu. G. Naidyuk, I. K. Yanson · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #physics.pop-ph #physics.gen-ph
published as Moskwa, Izdatelstwo "Znanije", Serija "Fizika", N12, (1989) · 32 pages, 15 Figs., Translation from the Russian edition
arxiv created 2003/12/03 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
The history is described of how one of the most commonly used electric circuit components, an ordinary electric contact, has become a powerful tool for the physicists to study various mechanisms of electron scattering in metals. The physical principles of spectroscopy of quasi-particle excitations in metals by means of point contacts (PCs) whose dimensions range from only a few to tens of nanometers are presented in a popular form.