Brief history of the Chair of General Physics and Wave Processes of Moscow State University

The Chair of General Physics and Wave Processes (GPWP), in its present form, exists since 1978, when it was formed as a result of re-organization of two chairs in Radio Physics Division at the Physics Department of Moscow State University: the Chair of Wave Processes and the Chair of General Physics for the Mechanics and Mathematics Department.

The Chair of General Physics for the Mechanics and Mathematics Department was created in 1955. Until 1974, this chair was headed by Professor Sergei Pavlovich Strelkov (1905 - 1974), the well-known scientist and lecturer, the founder of the scientific school of physics of vibrations in distributed systems. Professor Strelkov was the author of several monographs and textbooks, including the classical university textbook "Mechanics." The pedagogical activity of this chair was based on teaching- physics at the Mechanics and Mathematics Department and later also at the Department of Computing Mathematics and Cybernetics. The research activity was mainly focused on the physics of vibrational processes, statistical physics and thermo-dynamics, as well as statistical radio physics and mathematical biophysics.

The Chair of Wave Processes was created in 1965 by Rem Viktorovich Khokhlov (1926 - 1977) and Sergei Aleksandrovich Akhmanov (1929 - 1991), prominent professors of Moscow State University and pioneers of nonlinear optics. Professors Khokhlov and Akhmanov were the authors of fundamental theoretical and experimental studies in this new area of physics. They were the first to propose and theoretically substantiate the concept of parametric oscillators and amplifiers (1962). In 1964, they published the first monograph in nonlinear optics entitled "The Problems of Nonlinear Optics." For their outstanding, worldwide-recognized contribution to the development of nonlinear optics, R.V. Khokhlov and S.A. Akhmanov were awarded the Lomonosov (1964) and Lenin (1970) Prizes.

The method for the simplification of wave equations, developed by R.V. Khokhlov in 1960 - 1961, has opened a new phase in the development of the physics of wave processes. He was the author of several pioneering proposals in selective laser photochemistry, creation of gamma lasers, and thermonuclear isotope synthesis. For his fundamental research in nonlinear acoustics, R.V. Khokhlov was awarded the State Prize. In 1966, R.V. Khokhlov was elected the correspondent member and in 1974, the member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. R.V. Khokhlov's duties included such high positions as the Rector of Moscow State University (1973 - 1977), Vice-President of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and Vice-President of the International Association of Universities.

S.A. Akhmanov's name is linked to the pioneering research in statistical nonlinear optics, nonstationary optical phenomena, the physics of femtosecond pulses, nonlinear spectroscopy, and many others.

In 1962, R.V. Khokhlov and S.A. Akhmanov founded the first Soviet laboratory of nonlinear optics - the area of physics which was just born then (1961). This laboratory was open as a part of the Physics Department of Moscow State University. Very soon, prominent results obtained in the theory of nonlinear interactions of electromagnetic waves and pioneering experiments on nonlinear laser frequency conversion brought a worldwide recognition to this lab. As a logical continuation of this activity, the Chair of Wave Processes was organized on the basis of this laboratory in 1965. Headed by Professor R.V. Khokhlov, this chair became one of the leading centers of research in nonlinear optics, nonlinear acoustics, laser physics, and nonlinear spectroscopy, as well as the center for the education of highly qualified experts in these areas of research.

In 1974, Professor S.A. Akhmanov left the Chair of Wave Processes, along with a group of researchers and lecturers, to become the Head of the Chair of General Physics for the Mechanics and Mathematics Department. This time witnessed the renewal and the expansion of the research conducted at this chair, with the main emphasis being shifted toward nonlinear optics, laser physics, applications of lasers in biophysics, etc. At the moment of re-organization in 1978, these two chairs - the Chair of Wave Processes and the Chair of General Physics for the Mechanics and Mathematics Department - were closely linked, with the considerable part of the staff of both chairs being formed by the followers of the Khokhlov-Akhmanov scientific school.

The necessity of re-organizing these chairs was caused by the tragic death of R.V. Khokhlov in August of 1977 (in a mountain-climbing accident). In 1978, Professor S.A. Akhmanov took over as the Head of the united Chair of General Physics and Wave Processes and held this position until his untimely passing in 1991. The GPWP Chair became one of the largest chairs at Physics Department during that period of time. A group of scientists from the former Chair of General Processes formed a new chair in the Radio Physics Division - the Chair of Quantum Radio Physics (presently the Chair of Quantum Electronics). Both of these chairs are now located in the Building of Nonlinear Optics, which was constructed in 1980 in accordance with R.V. Khokhlov plans.

In 1992 - 1998, the GPWP Chair was headed by Professor Nikolai Ivanovich Koroteev (1947 - 1998), the follower of S.A. Akhmanov, Lomonosov Prize Winner, a prominent expert in nonlinear spectroscopy and the action of high-intensity laser radiation on matter. Professor N.I. Koroteev guided the chair through difficult times of changing epochs in this country, contributing greatly to the development of scientific ideas of R.V. Khokhlov and S.A. Akhmanov, initiating many research projects in new areas of nonlinear optics and spectroscopy, and increasing the research and teaching potential of the GPWP Chair, in fact, building the GPWP Chair in its present-day form. Holding simultaneously the position of a Vice-Rector of Moscow State University, N.I. Koroteev promoted international relations and gave a new impulse to the international cooperation of the GPWP Chair and Moscow University.

Since 1999, the GPWP Chair is headed by Professor V.A. Makarov. Diversified teaching activities of the GPWP Chair are supplemented by intense research. In particular, the involvement in original research is one of the main principles of student education here.

The GPWP Chair is tightly integrated with the International Education and Research Laser Center (ILC) of Moscow State University. The organization of this center was initiated by S.A. Akhmanov. Professor N.I. Koroteev was the first ILC director, holding this post and remaining the main driving force behind all the ILC activities until his tragic death in 1998. In 1998 - 2000, the ILC was headed by Professor V.V. Shuvalov. In 2000, Professor V.A. Makarov took over as the ILC director. Organizationally and structurally, the ILC is a division of Moscow State University. The activity of this center is based on the international cooperation in research. Experts and lecturers from Russian and abroad are involved in the ILC teaching activities and organization of scientific meetings and conferences.

The international, interinstitution, and interdepartment activities of the ILC are mainly aimed at coordinating large-scale programs and projects predominantly of interdisciplinary character in laser physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, and laser technologies, as well as coherent and nonlinear optics and their applications. Cooperation in these areas within Moscow University mainly involves the chairs of Physics Department, the Chair of Laser Chemistry of Chemistry Department (including the Laboratory of Laser Diagnostics, the Laboratory of Laser Spectroscopy, and the Laboratory of Laser Synthesis), and the Department of Basic Medicine (the specialized course "Laser Biomedicine and Biomedical Optics" has been developed and now being delivered to the students of this department). In 1990, Professor S.A. Akhmanov initiated the organization of the Laser Graduate School. The sessions of this school are now being organized annually, and they include lecture courses on the most urgent problems of laser physics. Top scientists from leading research centers all over the world are delivering lectures during these sessions for students, post-graduate students, and young researchers of the GPWP Chair, the ILC, and other universities, institutes, and research centers in Russian and other countries. The 2001 Laser Graduate School Session was held on June 27 - 30, 2001, and was dedicated to the 75th anniversary of R.V. Khokhlov.
More than 30 monographs, as well as numerous textbooks were written by the researchers and lecturers working at the GPWP Chair. In particular, textbooks on physics written by B.B. Bukhovtsev and G.Ya. Myakishev, Associate Professors of the GPWP Chair, have long been used as basis school textbooks in our country and have been published in several European countries. In 1998, the Russian edition of the "Physical Optics" textbook by S.A. Akhmanov and S.Yu. Nikitin, originally published in the UK (Oxford, 1997), has seen the light of day.

Since 1965, the Chair of Wave Processes and then the GPWP Chair along with the ILC (starting with the year of its foundation in 1990) have been the basis institutions for the organization of International Conferences on Coherent and Nonlinear Optics (ICONO), International Conferences on Laser Applications in Life Sciences (LALS), and several other worldwide-recognized large-scale international conferences, symposia, and workshops.

Starting with 1997, the GPWP Chair is an associate member of the "Basic Optics and Spectroscopy" Education and Research Center, founded within the framework of the Federal Program of Science and Education Integration. Several leading research and education centers in Russia and CIS are among permanent partners of the GPWP Chair and the ILC. These institutions and centers include the Institute of Laser Physics, Siberian Division, Russian Academy of Sciences; Russian Center of Laser Physics, St. Petersburg University; Institute of Advanced Laser and Information Technologies, Russian Academy of Sciences; General Physics Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences; P.N. Lebedev Physical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences; Center of Photochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences; N.G. Chernyshevsky Saratov State University; Institute of Physics and Institute of Molecular and Atomic Physics, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. Many leading universities and research centers in various countries are also among the long-term partners of the GPWP Chair and the ILC. Those include Princeton University, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Dayton University, Pennsylvania University, US Army Research Laboratory, SINEMED Inc. (USA); Essen, Wurzburg, Berlin, and Bonn Universities, as well as Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics and Berlin Center for Laser Medicine (Germany); International Laser Center in Bratislava and Comensky University (Slovak Republic); Palermo, Pisa, Milan, Bari, and Turin Universities, "La Sapienza" University in Rome, ENEA and IROE Research Centers, Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, and the International Center for Theoretical Physics in Trieste (Italy); Toronto University and Laval University (Canada); Universities of Bath and Southampton and Imperial College (UK); Bordeaux and Dunkerque Universities (France); Waseda University and the National Laboratory of Mechanics (Japan); Yonsay University (Republic of Korea); University of Twente (the Netherlands); and many others.

The following prominent scientists and outstanding personalities were with the GPWP Chair in the previous years: ·
Professor R.L. Stratonovich (1931 - 1997), the worldwide-recognized scientist, Lomonosov and State Prize winner, the founder of statistical radio physics and quantum theory of information, the author of pioneering works on nonequilibrium thermodynamics, who developed stochastic methods in classical and quantum statistical physics and the theory of measurements; ·
Professor V.S. Fursov (1915 - 1998), one of the leading researchers involved in the Kurchatov project, the winner of three State Prizes, the Dean of the Physics Department of Moscow State University in 1956 - 1989; ·
Associate Professor A.I. Kovrigin (1936 - 1996), the author of many pioneering experiments on nonlinear optics, who created the first parametric oscillator generating picosecond pulses, the State Prize winner.

The following Physics Department senior staff members stemmed from the Chair of General Physics and Wave Processes: O.V. Rudenko, Correspondent Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences; A.P. Sukhorukov, Professor; V.A. Aleshkevich, Professor; V.E. Kunitsyn, Professor. The teaching and research staff of the Chair of General Physics and Wave Processes now includes highly qualified and widely recognized experts, as well as bright personalities. More than 60 Doctors and Candidates (PhD) of Sciences are among the staff members of this chair.

The list of Doctors of Sciences who are now with the GPWP Chair and the ILC and their areas of research is given below.
Professor Anatolii V. Andreev, Lenin Comsomol Prize winner, x-ray optics, gamma lasers, coherent and cooperative processes in optics and physics of superstrong light fields; ·
Professor Vyacheslav M. Gordienko, physics of interaction of high-intensity laser radiation with molecules and condensed media; ·
Professor Vladimir I. Emel'yanov, Lomonosov Prize and Nauka/ Interperiodica Publishers Prize winner, laser-induced self-organization processes in solids and cooperative phenomena in optics; ·
Professor Aleksei M. Zheltikov, State Prize of the Russian Federation for Young Scientists, I.I. Shuvalov Prize, European Academy of Sciences Prize, and Nauka/Interperiodica Publishers Prize winner, nonlinear laser spectroscopy, optics of periodic structures, including photonic crystals; ·
Professor Valerii P. Kandidov, Lomonosov Prize and State Prize winner, powerful computation methods, propagation of electromagnetic waves in nonlinear nonuniform media; ·
Doctor of Sciences Aleksandr A. Karabutov, Lenin Comsomol Prize and Lomonosov Prize winner, nonlinear and laser acoustics; ·
Professor Vladimir A. Makarov, nonlinear waves in media with spatial dispersion, fundamental works on theoretical polarization optics; ·
Doctor of Sciences Vitalii K. Novik, State Prize winner, pyroelectric phenomena;
Professor Viktor T. Platonenko, theoretical nonlinear optics, selective laser photophysics and photochemistry, chemical lasers, and physics of superstrong light fields; ·
Professor Yurii M. Romanovskii, mathematical modeling in biophysics and autowave processes; ·
Doctor of Sciences Vladimir D. Taranukhin, interaction of superstrong light fields with matter; ·
Professor Vladimir G. Tunkin, experimental nonlinear optics, optics of ultrashort pulses, and spectroscopy with high temporal resolution; ·
Professor Anatolii S. Chirkin, Lomonosov Prize and State Prize winner, statistical and quantum optics, optics of ultrashort pulses, and statistical nonlinear acoustics; ·
Professor Viktor I. Shmal'gauzen, smart optical systems, including adaptive optics; ·
Professor Vladimir V. Shuvalov, experimental nonlinear optics, spectroscopy of ultrafast processes in matter, optical tomography, and theory of solitons in photorefractive crystals.

More than 30 PhD students are taking their courses and making their' research at the GPWP Chair.

Brief history of the Chair of General Physics and Wave Processes of Moscow State University

The Chair of General Physics and Wave Processes (GPWP), in its present form, exists since 1978, when it was formed as a result of re-organization of two chairs in Radio Physics Division at the Physics Department of Moscow State University: the Chair of Wave Processes and the Chair of General Physics for the Mechanics and Mathematics Department.

The Chair of General Physics for the Mechanics and Mathematics Department was created in 1955. Until 1974, this chair was headed by Professor Sergei Pavlovich Strelkov (1905 - 1974), the well-known scientist and lecturer, the founder of the scientific school of physics of vibrations in distributed systems. Professor Strelkov was the author of several monographs and textbooks, including the classical university textbook "Mechanics." The pedagogical activity of this chair was based on teaching- physics at the Mechanics and Mathematics Department and later also at the Department of Computing Mathematics and Cybernetics. The research activity was mainly focused on the physics of vibrational processes, statistical physics and thermo-dynamics, as well as statistical radio physics and mathematical biophysics.

The Chair of Wave Processes was created in 1965 by Rem Viktorovich Khokhlov (1926 - 1977) and Sergei Aleksandrovich Akhmanov (1929 - 1991), prominent professors of Moscow State University and pioneers of nonlinear optics. Professors Khokhlov and Akhmanov were the authors of fundamental theoretical and experimental studies in this new area of physics. They were the first to propose and theoretically substantiate the concept of parametric oscillators and amplifiers (1962). In 1964, they published the first monograph in nonlinear optics entitled "The Problems of Nonlinear Optics." For their outstanding, worldwide-recognized contribution to the development of nonlinear optics, R.V. Khokhlov and S.A. Akhmanov were awarded the Lomonosov (1964) and Lenin (1970) Prizes.

The method for the simplification of wave equations, developed by R.V. Khokhlov in 1960 - 1961, has opened a new phase in the development of the physics of wave processes. He was the author of several pioneering proposals in selective laser photochemistry, creation of gamma lasers, and thermonuclear isotope synthesis. For his fundamental research in nonlinear acoustics, R.V. Khokhlov was awarded the State Prize. In 1966, R.V. Khokhlov was elected the correspondent member and in 1974, the member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. R.V. Khokhlov's duties included such high positions as the Rector of Moscow State University (1973 - 1977), Vice-President of the USSR Academy of Sciences, and Vice-President of the International Association of Universities.

S.A. Akhmanov's name is linked to the pioneering research in statistical nonlinear optics, nonstationary optical phenomena, the physics of femtosecond pulses, nonlinear spectroscopy, and many others.

In 1962, R.V. Khokhlov and S.A. Akhmanov founded the first Soviet laboratory of nonlinear optics - the area of physics which was just born then (1961). This laboratory was open as a part of the Physics Department of Moscow State University. Very soon, prominent results obtained in the theory of nonlinear interactions of electromagnetic waves and pioneering experiments on nonlinear laser frequency conversion brought a worldwide recognition to this lab. As a logical continuation of this activity, the Chair of Wave Processes was organized on the basis of this laboratory in 1965. Headed by Professor R.V. Khokhlov, this chair became one of the leading centers of research in nonlinear optics, nonlinear acoustics, laser physics, and nonlinear spectroscopy, as well as the center for the education of highly qualified experts in these areas of research.

In 1974, Professor S.A. Akhmanov left the Chair of Wave Processes, along with a group of researchers and lecturers, to become the Head of the Chair of General Physics for the Mechanics and Mathematics Department. This time witnessed the renewal and the expansion of the research conducted at this chair, with the main emphasis being shifted toward nonlinear optics, laser physics, applications of lasers in biophysics, etc. At the moment of re-organization in 1978, these two chairs - the Chair of Wave Processes and the Chair of General Physics for the Mechanics and Mathematics Department - were closely linked, with the considerable part of the staff of both chairs being formed by the followers of the Khokhlov-Akhmanov scientific school.

The necessity of re-organizing these chairs was caused by the tragic death of R.V. Khokhlov in August of 1977 (in a mountain-climbing accident). In 1978, Professor S.A. Akhmanov took over as the Head of the united Chair of General Physics and Wave Processes and held this position until his untimely passing in 1991. The GPWP Chair became one of the largest chairs at Physics Department during that period of time. A group of scientists from the former Chair of General Processes formed a new chair in the Radio Physics Division - the Chair of Quantum Radio Physics (presently the Chair of Quantum Electronics). Both of these chairs are now located in the Building of Nonlinear Optics, which was constructed in 1980 in accordance with R.V. Khokhlov plans.

In 1992 - 1998, the GPWP Chair was headed by Professor Nikolai Ivanovich Koroteev (1947 - 1998), the follower of S.A. Akhmanov, Lomonosov Prize Winner, a prominent expert in nonlinear spectroscopy and the action of high-intensity laser radiation on matter. Professor N.I. Koroteev guided the chair through difficult times of changing epochs in this country, contributing greatly to the development of scientific ideas of R.V. Khokhlov and S.A. Akhmanov, initiating many research projects in new areas of nonlinear optics and spectroscopy, and increasing the research and teaching potential of the GPWP Chair, in fact, building the GPWP Chair in its present-day form. Holding simultaneously the position of a Vice-Rector of Moscow State University, N.I. Koroteev promoted international relations and gave a new impulse to the international cooperation of the GPWP Chair and Moscow University.

Since 1999, the GPWP Chair is headed by Professor V.A. Makarov. Diversified teaching activities of the GPWP Chair are supplemented by intense research. In particular, the involvement in original research is one of the main principles of student education here.

The GPWP Chair is tightly integrated with the International Education and Research Laser Center (ILC) of Moscow State University. The organization of this center was initiated by S.A. Akhmanov. Professor N.I. Koroteev was the first ILC director, holding this post and remaining the main driving force behind all the ILC activities until his tragic death in 1998. In 1998 - 2000, the ILC was headed by Professor V.V. Shuvalov. In 2000, Professor V.A. Makarov took over as the ILC director. Organizationally and structurally, the ILC is a division of Moscow State University. The activity of this center is based on the international cooperation in research. Experts and lecturers from Russian and abroad are involved in the ILC teaching activities and organization of scientific meetings and conferences.

The international, interinstitution, and interdepartment activities of the ILC are mainly aimed at coordinating large-scale programs and projects predominantly of interdisciplinary character in laser physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, and laser technologies, as well as coherent and nonlinear optics and their applications. Cooperation in these areas within Moscow University mainly involves the chairs of Physics Department, the Chair of Laser Chemistry of Chemistry Department (including the Laboratory of Laser Diagnostics, the Laboratory of Laser Spectroscopy, and the Laboratory of Laser Synthesis), and the Department of Basic Medicine (the specialized course "Laser Biomedicine and Biomedical Optics" has been developed and now being delivered to the students of this department). In 1990, Professor S.A. Akhmanov initiated the organization of the Laser Graduate School. The sessions of this school are now being organized annually, and they include lecture courses on the most urgent problems of laser physics. Top scientists from leading research centers all over the world are delivering lectures during these sessions for students, post-graduate students, and young researchers of the GPWP Chair, the ILC, and other universities, institutes, and research centers in Russian and other countries. The 2001 Laser Graduate School Session was held on June 27 - 30, 2001, and was dedicated to the 75th anniversary of R.V. Khokhlov.
More than 30 monographs, as well as numerous textbooks were written by the researchers and lecturers working at the GPWP Chair. In particular, textbooks on physics written by B.B. Bukhovtsev and G.Ya. Myakishev, Associate Professors of the GPWP Chair, have long been used as basis school textbooks in our country and have been published in several European countries. In 1998, the Russian edition of the "Physical Optics" textbook by S.A. Akhmanov and S.Yu. Nikitin, originally published in the UK (Oxford, 1997), has seen the light of day.

Since 1965, the Chair of Wave Processes and then the GPWP Chair along with the ILC (starting with the year of its foundation in 1990) have been the basis institutions for the organization of International Conferences on Coherent and Nonlinear Optics (ICONO), International Conferences on Laser Applications in Life Sciences (LALS), and several other worldwide-recognized large-scale international conferences, symposia, and workshops.

Starting with 1997, the GPWP Chair is an associate member of the "Basic Optics and Spectroscopy" Education and Research Center, founded within the framework of the Federal Program of Science and Education Integration. Several leading research and education centers in Russia and CIS are among permanent partners of the GPWP Chair and the ILC. These institutions and centers include the Institute of Laser Physics, Siberian Division, Russian Academy of Sciences; Russian Center of Laser Physics, St. Petersburg University; Institute of Advanced Laser and Information Technologies, Russian Academy of Sciences; General Physics Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences; P.N. Lebedev Physical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences; Center of Photochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences; N.G. Chernyshevsky Saratov State University; Institute of Physics and Institute of Molecular and Atomic Physics, National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. Many leading universities and research centers in various countries are also among the long-term partners of the GPWP Chair and the ILC. Those include Princeton University, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Dayton University, Pennsylvania University, US Army Research Laboratory, SINEMED Inc. (USA); Essen, Wurzburg, Berlin, and Bonn Universities, as well as Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics and Berlin Center for Laser Medicine (Germany); International Laser Center in Bratislava and Comensky University (Slovak Republic); Palermo, Pisa, Milan, Bari, and Turin Universities, "La Sapienza" University in Rome, ENEA and IROE Research Centers, Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, and the International Center for Theoretical Physics in Trieste (Italy); Toronto University and Laval University (Canada); Universities of Bath and Southampton and Imperial College (UK); Bordeaux and Dunkerque Universities (France); Waseda University and the National Laboratory of Mechanics (Japan); Yonsay University (Republic of Korea); University of Twente (the Netherlands); and many others.

The following prominent scientists and outstanding personalities were with the GPWP Chair in the previous years: ·
Professor R.L. Stratonovich (1931 - 1997), the worldwide-recognized scientist, Lomonosov and State Prize winner, the founder of statistical radio physics and quantum theory of information, the author of pioneering works on nonequilibrium thermodynamics, who developed stochastic methods in classical and quantum statistical physics and the theory of measurements; ·
Professor V.S. Fursov (1915 - 1998), one of the leading researchers involved in the Kurchatov project, the winner of three State Prizes, the Dean of the Physics Department of Moscow State University in 1956 - 1989; ·
Associate Professor A.I. Kovrigin (1936 - 1996), the author of many pioneering experiments on nonlinear optics, who created the first parametric oscillator generating picosecond pulses, the State Prize winner.

The following Physics Department senior staff members stemmed from the Chair of General Physics and Wave Processes: O.V. Rudenko, Correspondent Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences; A.P. Sukhorukov, Professor; V.A. Aleshkevich, Professor; V.E. Kunitsyn, Professor. The teaching and research staff of the Chair of General Physics and Wave Processes now includes highly qualified and widely recognized experts, as well as bright personalities. More than 60 Doctors and Candidates (PhD) of Sciences are among the staff members of this chair.

The list of Doctors of Sciences who are now with the GPWP Chair and the ILC and their areas of research is given below.
Professor Anatolii V. Andreev, Lenin Comsomol Prize winner, x-ray optics, gamma lasers, coherent and cooperative processes in optics and physics of superstrong light fields; ·
Professor Vyacheslav M. Gordienko, physics of interaction of high-intensity laser radiation with molecules and condensed media; ·
Professor Vladimir I. Emel'yanov, Lomonosov Prize and Nauka/ Interperiodica Publishers Prize winner, laser-induced self-organization processes in solids and cooperative phenomena in optics; ·
Professor Aleksei M. Zheltikov, State Prize of the Russian Federation for Young Scientists, I.I. Shuvalov Prize, European Academy of Sciences Prize, and Nauka/Interperiodica Publishers Prize winner, nonlinear laser spectroscopy, optics of periodic structures, including photonic crystals; ·
Professor Valerii P. Kandidov, Lomonosov Prize and State Prize winner, powerful computation methods, propagation of electromagnetic waves in nonlinear nonuniform media; ·
Doctor of Sciences Aleksandr A. Karabutov, Lenin Comsomol Prize and Lomonosov Prize winner, nonlinear and laser acoustics; ·
Professor Vladimir A. Makarov, nonlinear waves in media with spatial dispersion, fundamental works on theoretical polarization optics; ·
Doctor of Sciences Vitalii K. Novik, State Prize winner, pyroelectric phenomena;
Professor Viktor T. Platonenko, theoretical nonlinear optics, selective laser photophysics and photochemistry, chemical lasers, and physics of superstrong light fields; ·
Professor Yurii M. Romanovskii, mathematical modeling in biophysics and autowave processes; ·
Doctor of Sciences Vladimir D. Taranukhin, interaction of superstrong light fields with matter; ·
Professor Vladimir G. Tunkin, experimental nonlinear optics, optics of ultrashort pulses, and spectroscopy with high temporal resolution; ·
Professor Anatolii S. Chirkin, Lomonosov Prize and State Prize winner, statistical and quantum optics, optics of ultrashort pulses, and statistical nonlinear acoustics; ·
Professor Viktor I. Shmal'gauzen, smart optical systems, including adaptive optics; ·
Professor Vladimir V. Shuvalov, experimental nonlinear optics, spectroscopy of ultrafast processes in matter, optical tomography, and theory of solitons in photorefractive crystals.

More than 30 PhD students are taking their courses and making their' research at the GPWP Chair.