New trends in low temperature physics dedicated to Poland and Ukraine: in scientific solidarity

Анотація

Dear Reader, this Special Issue of the Journal Low Temperature Physics is extraordinary and remarkable. It is a testimony of solidarity, namely, the solidarity of scientists. The war that Russia started against Ukraine has resulted in a stream of support from, among others, the world of science for science and scientists from Ukraine. One of the drops in this stream is the support of the Institute of Low Temperature and Structure Research Polish Academy of Sciences in Wrocław (INTiBS PAN) for researchers from Ukraine, and in particular for the friendly B. Verkin Institute for Low Temperature Physics and Engineering of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (ILTPE NASU), where the editorial office of this Journal is located. Cooperation between these two scientific organizations dates back to their founding: ILTPE NASU in 1960 and INTiBS PAN in 1966 (the latter unit was for many years associated with an independent facility called the International Laboratory of High Magnetic Field and Low Temperatures). The first informal steps in this cooperation were taken by the founders of the Institutes, Prof. W. Trzebiatowski and Prof. B. Verkin, in the late 1960s. The first mutual internships and visits of employees began in the early 1980s, and since 1991 (the year Ukraine regained its independence) the scientific exchange has intensified significantly. As a result of these collaborative efforts, more than 280 articles have been published to date in scientific journals indexed in Journal Citation Report. In November 2021, the two institutes established a joint laboratory “International Polish-Ukrainian Scientific Laboratory of Hydrogen Technology”. Unfortunately, the war in Ukraine made the development of this laboratory virtually impossible. Since March 2022, INTiBS PAN has been actively supporting and assisting fellow scientists from Kharkiv and other Ukrainian cities. To date, it has provided long-term hospitality to more than 30 people at the Institute, and 9 scientists from Ukraine have found employment here. In addition, INTiBS PAN has provided IT infrastructure support by making its servers available to institutes in Kharkiv and has also provided assistance to the editorial board of this Journal. This Special Issue contains papers written by physicists and chemists working at INTiBS PAN in Wrocław, representatives of all its scientific divisions, including several co-authors from Ukrainian research centers or scientists born in Ukraine.