Mikhail Dyakonov

Mikhail (Michel) Dyakonov (born 1940 in Leningrad) is a Russian professor of physics at Laboratoire Charles Coulomb (L2C), Université Montpellier - CNRS in France. Career His name is connected with several physical phenomena: Dyakonov–Perel spin relaxation mechanism, Dyakonov–Shur plasma wave instability. In 1971, together with V.I. Perel he predicted the Spin Hall Effect, which has become a field of intense studies. He theoretically predicted a new class of surface electromagnetic waves, now called Dyakonov surface waves (DSWs) in 1988. Unlike other types of acoustic and electromagnetic surface waves, the DSW's existence is due to the difference in symmetry of materials forming the interface. These waves are important at the interface of a biaxial anisotropic dielectric with an isotropic medium, metamaterials and they have also found use in terahertz applications. Awards Professor Dyakonov is a recipient of the State prize (USSR) in physics for theoretical work on spin dynamics (1976), the Frenkel prize of the St. Petersburg Physical Society for theory of streamer discharge (1992), the Ioffe prize of the Russian Academy of Sciences for the theory of hot luminescence (1993), Beller Lectureship Award from the American Physical Society (2009), and the Grand prize from the French Physical Society (2009).