IBM Research Division Thomas J. Watson Research Center Yorktown Heights, N.Y. It's easy to see solitons in macroscopic systems such as streams, but they proved to be very slippery in microscopic systems. A recent paper reports direct observations of soliton-antisoliton collision processes in a discrete Josephson transmission line. K. Nakajima, H. Mizusawa, Y. Sawada, "Experimental observation of spatiotemporal wave forms of all possible types of soliton-antisoliton interactions in Josephson

PHYSICS BY SOKRATES T. PANTELIDES IBM Research Division Thomas J. Watson Research Center Yorktown Heights, N.Y. " “Cold fusion” made a big splash a few months ago (mostly in the popular press) and proved quickly to be merely wishful thinking. Now a serious, well-documented report in Physical Review Letters suggests new path to fusion: bombardment of deuterium-containing solid targets with ion clusters. R.J. Beuhler, G. Friedlander, L. Friedman, “Cluster-impact fusion,”

PHYSICS BY SOKRATES T. PANTELIDES IBM Research Division Thomas J. Watson Research Center Yorktown Heights, N.Y. " As devices shrink below the micron regime, a very different and interesting world is unveiled. In a recent paper, the resistance of submicron junctions is shown to behave nonlinearly with current injection. H.J. Queisser, R. Trzcinski, “Nonlinear unipolar charge transport in silicon microcontacts,’ PhysicalReview Letters, 62, 2721-3, 5 June 1989. (Max-Planck-Institut

PHYSICS BY SOKRATES T. PANTELIDES IBM Research Division Thomas J. Watson Research Center Yorktown Heights, N.Y. " Reports of cold fusion stirred a great deal of activity. Little has appeared in peer-reviewed journals, however. A report of comprehensive studies with electrolytic cells that produced no fusion has appeared in Physical Review Letters. J.F. Ziegler, T.H. Zabel, J.J. Cuomo, V.A. Brusic, et al., “Electrochemical experiments in cold nuclear fusion,” Physical Review Letter

PHYSICS BY SOKRATES T. PANTELIDES IBM Research Division Thomas J. Watson Research Center Yorktown Heights, N.Y. " The dispersion front of a tracer fluid flowing in a porous medium has a fractal structure. Fractal geometry abounds in nature, but the principles that determine fractal dimension still remain a challenge. This entry appeared in the 6 February 1989 issue of The Scientist with an incorrect reference. [See correct reference below.] K.J. Måløy, J. Feder, F. Boger, T. Jøs

. PHYSICS BY SOKRATES T. PANTELIDES IBM Research Division Thomas J. Watson Research Center Yorktown Heights, N.Y. " In the last 10 years, first-principles pseudopotentials revolutionized band-structure calculations for solids, especially when no d or f orbitals are involved. History is now repeating itself. Pseudopotentials are shown to lead to an efficient implementation of the variational Monte Carlo approach to the many electron problem in real solids. S. Fairy, X.W. Wang, S.G. Louie, &

PHYSICS BY SOKRATES T. PANTELIDES IBM Research Division Thomas J. Watson Research Center Yorktown Heights, N.Y. " Are the new high-Tc superconducting materials going to be useful? It has recently been possible to deposit high-quality superconducting films without post-annealing. The deposition temperature is now lowered to approximately 400°C Such temperatures are compatible with semiconductor device processing. S. Witanachchi, H.S. Kwoh, X.W. Wang, D.T. Shaw, Deposition tion of superco