Heinz Raether

{{Short description|German physicist (1909–1986)}}

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| name = Heinz Raether

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| birth_name = Heinz Artur Raether

| birth_date = {{birth date|1909|10|14|df=y}}

| birth_place = Nuremberg, German Empire

| death_date = {{death date and age|1986|12|31|1909|10|14|df=y}}

| death_place = Aumühle, West Germany

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| nationality = German

| fields = Condensed matter physics
Plasma physics

| workplaces = University of Jena
University of Hamburg
Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities

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| known_for = Kretschmann-Raether configuration
Raether limit

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Heinz Artur Raether (14 October 1909 — 31 December 1986) was a German physicist. He is best known for his theoretical and experimental contributions to the study of surface plasmons, as well as for Kretschmann-Raether configuration, a commonly-used experimental setup for the excitation of surface plasmon resonances.{{cite book |editor1-last = Maradudin |editor1-first=Alexei A. |editor2-last = Sambles |editor2-first=J. Roy |editor3-last = Barnes |editor3-first=William L. |year=2014 |title=Modern Plasmonics |location=Amsterdam |publisher=Elsevier |pages= 1–23 |isbn=9780444595263}}{{cite journal |last1= Kretschmann |first1=E. |last2=Raether |first2=H. |date=1968 |title=Radiative Decay of Non Radiative Surface Plasmons Excited by Light |url=http://zfn.mpdl.mpg.de/data/Reihe_A/23/ZNA-1968-23a-2135_n.pdf |journal=Zeitschrift für Naturforschung |volume=23 |pages=2135–2136 |doi= 10.1515/zna-1968-1247|s2cid=97127159 }}

From 1944 to 1946 he was a professor of physics at the University of Jena at the Physikalisches Institut.{{cite web |url=http://www.physik2.uni-jena.de/profgalerie/grafik38.pdf |title=Heinz Arthur Raether |website=physik2.uni-jena.de |publisher=University of Jena |access-date=2020-01-28 |archive-date=2018-02-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180223051101/http://www.physik2.uni-jena.de/profgalerie/grafik38.pdf |url-status=dead }} Here he dealt with electron physics, electron microscopy, electron interference and gas discharges.{{cite journal|last1=Chvyreva|first1=A|last2=Pancheshnyi|first2=S|last3=Christen|first3=T|last4=Pemen|first4=A J M|title=Raether–Meek criterion for prediction of electrodeless discharge inception on a dielectric surface in different gases|journal=Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics|volume=51|issue=11|year=2018|pages=115202|issn=0022-3727|doi=10.1088/1361-6463/aaa9ce|bibcode=2018JPhD...51k5202C|s2cid=126041363}}

In 1951, he took over the management of the Institute for Applied Physics at the University of Hamburg. After the development of the transistor, he focused on solid state physics. His work during this period concerned the structure and growth of crystals. Later he became interested in the collective behavior of the electrons of a crystal, the solid-state electron plasma.

In gas discharge physics, he devoted himself to the ignition process, especially the formation of the spark channel, the initial phase of electrical breakdown. In 1963 he was elected a full member of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences.Holger Krahnke: Die Mitglieder der Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen 1751–2001 (= Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, Philologisch-Historische Klasse. Folge 3, Bd. 246 = Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen, Mathematisch-Physikalische Klasse. Folge 3, Bd. 50). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 2001, {{ISBN|3-525-82516-1}}, S. 194. In 1979 he was elected a member of the Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.