Aspects of epitaxially grown indium antimonide (InSb) on InSb substrates (InSb-on-InSb) by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) for the 2D focal plane arrays fabrication process have been described. The epitaxial growth offers possibility for complex structure production, and then such structures suppose more effective control of the thermal generation charge carriers as the detector temperature is raised above 80 K. Investigations of mid-wave infrared (MWIR) 320256 FPAs with 30 μm pitch and 640512 FPAs with 15 μm pitch based on 
 InSb-on-InSb layers have shown high performance: the average detectivity at T = 77 K more than 21011 cmW-1Hz1/2, the average value of noise equivalent temperature difference 
 (NETD) with a cold aperture of 60o at T = 77K was in the range of 10–20 mK. High quality thermal imaging images were obtained in real time mode.

The possibilities of technological ensuring of the uniformity of thickness distribution of a thin-film metal coating produced by magnetron sputtering on the inner surface of a thinwalled silica resonator made in the shape of a hemisphere are considered. The possibility of minimizing the thickness of the coating by optimizing the diameter of the annular magnetron emission zone in combination with the distance from the resonator to the target made of sprayed material is shown. A further increase in the evenness of thickness of the coating 
 is possible on the basis of the use of a fixed screen with a hole, the shape and location of which are calculated analytically, and the final configuration of the contour is specified empirically

In this paper, we report on the design, the fabrication, and performance of SWIR photomodules using sensitive two-dimensional arrays based on InGaAs-heterostructures. The de-
 sign of suggested InGaAs-heterostructure includes InAlAs wideband barrier layer and high sensitive absorber InGaAs layer which are increasing the uniformity and operability of focal plane array (FPA), so the number of defect elements are less than 0.5 %. The possibilities of spectral range expanding into short-wavelength to 0.5 μm and into long-wavelength to 2.2 μm regions have been considered. The operation principals of active-pulse system for 0.9–1.7 μm spectral range based on InGaAs 320256 FPA with 30 μm pitch have been presented. The investigations showed that the infrared gated-viewing system based on the InGaAs 320256 FPA provided a spatial resolution of 0,6 m.

A review is presented on experimental results related to investigation of distinctive features of the structure and evolution of plasma current sheets formed in three
 dimensional (3D) magnetic configurations with an X line, in the presence of a longitudinal magnetic field component (guide field) directed along the X line. It is shown that formation of a plasma current sheet results in enhancement of the guide field within the sheet. The excessive guide field is maintained by plasma currents that flow in the transverse plane relative to the main current in the sheet. As a result, the structure of the currents becomes three-dimensional. 
 Increasing the initial value of the guide field brings about a decrease of compression into the sheet of both the electric current and plasma. This effect is caused by changing the pres-
 sure balance in the sheet when an excessive guide field appears in it. Deformation of plasma current sheets in 3D magnetic configurations, namely, an appearance of asymmetric 
 and tilted sheets, results from excitation of the Hall currents and their interaction with the guide field. It is shown that the formation of current sheets in 3D magnetic configurations 
 with an X line is possible in a relatively wide, but limited range of initial conditions

The paper discusses the problems associated with the development of technology for terahertz radiation detectors. The main physical phenomena and recent progress in various methods of detecting terahertz radiation (direct detection and heterodyne detection) are considered. Advantages and disadvantages of direct detection sensors and sensors with heterodyne detection are discussed. In part 1, a number of features of direct detection are considered and some types of terahertz direct detection detectors are described. Part 2 will describe heterodyne detection and continue to describe some types of modern photonic terahertz receivers.

The propagation and structure of a microplasma discharge initiated in vacuum by a pulsed plasma flow with a density of 1013 cm–3 on the surface of a titanium sample covered with a 
 thin continuous dielectric titanium oxide film with a shickness of 2–6 nm were studied experimentally when the electric current of the discharge changes from 50 A to 400 A. 
 It was found that the microplasma discharge glow visually at the macroscale has a branched structure of the dendrite type, which at the microscale consists of a large number 
 of brightly glowing “point” formations – cathode spots localized on the metal surface. The resulting erosion structure on the titanium surface is visually “identical” to the structure of 
 the discharge glow and consists of a large number of separate non-overlapping microcraters with characteristic sizes from 0.1–3 μm, which are formed at the sites of localization of 
 cathode spots at distances of up to 20 μm from each other. It was found that the propagation of a single microplasma discharge over the titanium surface covered with a thin oxide film a 
 thickness of 2–6 nm occurs at an average velocity of 15–70 m/s when the amplitude of the discharge electric current changes in the range of 50–400 A. In this case, the microplasma 
 discharge propagation on the microscale has a “jumping” character: the plasma of “motionless” burning cathode spots, during their lifetime 1 μs, initiates the excitation of new 
 microdischarges, which create new cathode spots at localization distances of 1–20 μm from the primary cathode spots. This process repeated many times during a microplasma dis-
 charge pulse with a duration from 0.1 ms to 20 ms.

Consideration is given to the results of the development of an optoelectronic module based on a Russian cooled matrix photodetector of 640512 elements format, operating
 in the spectral range of 3.6–4.9 microns, based on InSb. The paper describes the basic algorithms used for video image processing, describes the main blocks of the developed device, describes the methods for measuring NETD and spatial resolution, and gives the characteristics of the device.

Based on a detailed analysis and generalization of the results of calculations of the energy spectrum of electrons using different models in gas discharges in pure carbon dioxide CO2 and in mixtures containing CO2 , the rate constant of CO2 dissociation by electron impact in a gas discharge of direct current at atmospheric pressure is found. It is shown that, at values of the reduced electric field from 55 Td to 100 Td, the predominant
 mechanism of decomposition of the CO2 molecule is the collision of CO2 molecules with electrons. An expression is obtained for calculating the rate constant of CO2 dissociation by electron impact as a function of the reduced electric field.

The results of research on the development of the first electric discharge lasers on active media N2, CO2, Cu, CuBr and excimer molecules at the Institute of Atmospheric Optics named after V. E. Zueva SB RAS are given. It created one of the world's first Cu-lasers with a pulse production of copper vapors due to the explosion of conductors and a transverse excitation discharge. For a copper laser, record specific generation parameters were obtained almost equal to the limit: radiation energy 2.4 J/l, peak power 120 MW/l with an efficiency of 0.16 %. For the CuBr laser operating in frequency mode, for the first time, an average radiation power of more than 100 W was obtained. In the dual pulse excitation mode, conditions were found that limit the growth of the efficiency of the CuBr laser. For him, a record efficiency of 2.7 % was obtained. For the first time, a nitrogen laser was developed with a maximum efficiency of 0.27 % with an
 energy of 0.8 mJ, a peak power of 160 kW. For the first time, a miniature XeCl laser with a longitudinal excitation discharge was developed, which worked both with and without buffer gases He, Ne and Ar.

The effect of the sample composition, variation of the temperature field and the feed material non-homogeneity on uniformity of the growing crystal is considered. It is shown
 that optimization of the solvent composition makes it possible to minimize the jump of the ZnTe concentration at the seed/crystal boundary. The composition fluctuations at variation of the thermal field during crystal growth are smooth enough and relatively
 non-significant. The feed composition distribution has, as a rule, a random character. Different harmonics of composition distribution non-uniformity in the feed material differently affect the homogeneity of the growing crystal. Longwave non-uniformities in the feed transform into the growing crystal almost completely. At the wavelength equals to a half of the solvent length or shorter, the perturbations of the growing crystal composition are relatively small. Evidently, the cause of the local composition variations, found in real crystals, is, basically, the feed composition non-uniformities

The similarity of the switching mechanisms of compact vacuum spark breakers and spark breakers with laser ignition is established at a comparable level of energy flux density in the ignition node–ionization of the residual gas by a stream of short-wave radiation and fast electrons from the cathode spot plasma or laser plasma. This mechanism allows you to effectively reduce the delay in triggering the spark gap by increasing the ignition energy. An experimental study of the advantages of using an ignition circuit with increased energy for controlling small-sized vacuum spark breakers is carried out. There is a steady decrease in the delay time of the spark gap and an increase in the level
 of delay stability. From the point of view of minimization and stability of the delay time of the spark gap, the energy investment in the formation of the initiating plasma occurs most effectively at the spark stage of the auxiliary discharge along the surface of the dielectric in the ignition node.

The features of the photoelastic effect are discussed and it is shown that they can be used to measure the parameters of a laser and a photodetector, which are the main units of any optoelectronic product. A brief review of the known methods for measuring the parameters of a laser and a photodetector is carried out, and some limitations in their application are noted. The possibility of using the features of the photoelastic effect for
 measuring the parameters of the inertia of the photodetector is theoretically substantiated. A formula for calculating the response at the output of an acousto-optic processor to a rectangular input action is derived and used to separately estimate the time of crossing the optical beam by an elastic wave packet and the inertia of the photodetector. It has also been proven that by choosing a short input action, the features of the photoelastic effect can be used to determine the configuration of the cross section of the laser beam and the law of the distribution of the power flux density in it. The results of theoretical studies have been tested by numerical calculations and confirmed by experimental measurements.

The paper presents an analysis of data on the cross sections of elastic and inelastic collisions of electrons with noble gas atoms. The transport (diffusion) cross sec-tion, the excitation and ionization cross sections are considered. For the selected sets of experimental and theoretical data, optimal analytical formulas are found and approximation coefficients are selected for them. The obtained semi-empirical formulas allow us to reproduce the cross section values in a wide range of colli-sion energies from 0.001 to 10000 eV with an accuracy of several percent.

The paper presents the results of an experimental study of the shelf life of sealed plasma focus chambers with deuterium-tritium and deuterium fillings. Shelf life is defined as maintaining the level of neutron yield during operation of PF chambers as part of pulsed neutron generators after long storage intervals. The release of impurities from the inner surfaces of the PF chamber and the accumulation of he-lium He3 due to the decay of tritium in the volume of the sealed-off PF chambers leads to a significant decrease in the neutron radiation yield several years after the chamber is filled with the working mixture. The paper shows that the shelf life of the chambers is significantly increased when using a gas generator, in which hy-drogen isotopes are contained in a bound state, and are released into the inner volume of the chamber only for the duration of operation as part of neutron gen-erators. It has been shown experimentally that spherical chambers of the PF9 type provide a level of neutron radiation yield Y, close to the initial value in the manu-facture of chambers, after more than 10 years of storage.

The review is given on the most interesting new results presented at the XLVIII International Zvenigorod conference on plasma physics and controlled fusion which took place in Moscow on March 15–19, 2021. The analysis of basic achievements in the field of plasma physics in Russia and their comparison with scientific researches abroad is carried out.

The history of the invention and development of the gas thermometer and the ap-pearance of optical-acoustic receivers (OAP) based on it, starting from the first works of Bell, Hayes, Golay, and up to the present time, are considered. The ad-vantages of the OAP, consisting in a constant and high sensitivity in a wide range of the spectrum and the highest detection ability among thermal receivers, are not-ed. The main characteristics of membranes – the main elements of OAP-are con-sidered, and the physical properties of graphene, as the most preferred material for membranes, are analyzed. Estimates have been made showing that the use of SLG graphene membranes makes it possible to create IR and THZ radiation re-ceivers with cells of the order of tens of microns with extremely high sensitivity. A new design scheme is proposed for uncooled matrix helium-graphene optical-acoustic receivers with theoretically extreme sensitivity and speed and an operating range extended to helium temperatures.