Famed Bulgarian physicists. I. St. Petroff's Goettingen research of the photostimulated interconversions of color centers in alkali halides: the discovery of the photostimulated aggregation

This essay tells briefly of the life and work of one of the most successful scientists originating from a Balkan settlement whose name and popularity have greatly exceeded its realm. The word is of a discovery during WWII of the photostimulated aggregation of the F centers (else alkali atoms) dissolved from the vapor into an alkali halide crystal. Using optical absorption techniques while a grantee of Humboldt's Foundation in Goettingen, Germany between 1943-1944, he found new absorption bands pertaining to small-size F center aggregates and followed their interconversions. A primary photochemical solid state reaction was evidenced for the first time leading to nanoscale products.