Mikhail Dyakonov

Mikhail Dyakonov worked at Ioffe Institute until 1998 when he became a professor at the University of Montpellier, France. He was elected an Honorary Member of the Ioffe Institute in 2013.  

His fields of interest include atomic physics, solid-state physics, physics of semiconductors, spin physics, and physics of 2D electrons. 

Mikhail is a recipient of the State Prize of USSR, Frenkel prize of the Saint Petersburg Physical society, Beller lectureship award from the American Physical Society, and the Robin prize from the French Physical Society. 

Dyakonov’s name is connected to several physical phenomena: Dyakonov-Perel spin relaxation mechanism, Dyakonov surface waves, Dyakonov-Shur instability. Together with V.I. Perel, he has predicted the Spin Hall Effect (1971) which has become a subject of intense studies

Mikhail Dyakonov received the Ph.D. (1966) in theoretical physics from Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute in Saint Petersburg (Leningrad), USSR.