(10.11.1939-21.03.2009)
  The Department of Laser Spectroscopy originated in 1970 with the establishment of two laboratories united by a common scientific program, common experimental instrumentation, and common research staff. These were the Laboratory of Laser Spectroscopy headed by Dr. V.S. Letokhov and Sector of Spectroscopy of Excited States under the guidance of Dr. R.V. Ambartzumian and later headed by Dr. E.A. Ryabov. The core of the department was constituted by young scientists invited from the Department of Quantum Radio Physics of P.N. Lebedev Physics Institute and students at Moscow Physics-Technical Institute, for whom the Institute of Laser Spectroscopy became the basic study center to specialize in quantum optics.

At the root of the scientific program of the laboratories were the original ideas concerning new laser spectroscopy techniques and selective action of laser light on matter that passed ahead of similar ideas put forward in other countries. This largely determined the success of the program, despite the fact that the performance level of the scientific equipment available was noticeably below that of similar instrumentation abroad. Later on the group of laser laboratories was extended to include the Laboratory of Picosecond Spectroscopy headed by Dr. P.G. Kryukov and later by Dr. Yu.A. Matveets. This laboratory succeeded in widening the circle of scientific problems under study and made the Department of Laser Spectroscopy full-fledged, its staff running to some 50 persons by 1985. The Department is a unified body of closely related investigators and specialists united by common objectives. During the course of “perestroika”, when the Russian Academy of Sciences experienced difficulties in financing its daughter research institutes, the Department managed to concentrate on the most pressing problems while employing a smaller staff (25 persons in 2003). Additional funding was obtained at the time from grants awarded by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, from finances allotted by the Ministry of Science for some scientific-technical programs, and from joint research works financed by foreign organizations.

 

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