The Institute of Laser Technologies was established in the summer of 2022 and brought together professionals competent in creating, developing, and advancing laser technologies. As of now, the institute’s faculty includes 4 DSc and 14 PhD holders, 25 PhD students, and over 40 young scientists.

The institute’s activities date back to 1963 when Konstantin Krylov, an expert in the theory of electromagnetic fields and their interaction with electron beams, started the Department of Quantum Electronics – the first of its kind in the USSR. Two years later, his student and now a senior researcher at the Institute of Laser Technologies Vadim Veiko launched the university’s first Laboratory of Laser Technologies and later, in 1988, the Department of Laser Technologies. Later on, both departments were renamed: the Department of Quantum Electronics became the Department of Laser Technologies and Biomedical Optics, and the Department of Laser Technologies – the Department of Laser Technologies and Ecological Instrumentation. The departments had existed separately up until 2015 when they merged into a single unit now known as the Institute of Laser Technologies. 

Strategic goals

• to encourage the efficient development of laser technologies, including special-use laser equipment, at ITMO to increase its competitiveness on the national and global markets associated with educational, scientific, engineering, and innovative activities;

• to create favorable conditions for training and further holistic development of highly-skilled specialists in laser technologies;

• to foster a productive environment for symbiosis of laser technologies and other branches of science and technologies, medicine and art.

The Institute of Laser Technologies enrolls and trains specialists within the eponymous Bachelor’s and Master’s programs Laser Technologies, which currently have a total student count of around 200 students. Bachelor’s students spend the first two years studying the core curriculum, while later on, they proceed to their individual learning tracks with a focus on research, engineering, or entrepreneurship. 

Early in their training, students are free to join one of the institute’s three laboratories: the International Research Laboratory for Micro- and Nanotechnology Lasers, the Laboratory of Industrial Laser Technologies, and the Laboratory of Biomedical Laser Technologies.

Master’s and PhD students can work on their research, engineering, and technical projects and turn them into startups thanks to the institute’s Laser Technology Transfer Center, which can help them promote their ideas and find industrial partners and potential customers.

At the institute, students find, come up with, and develop projects that become useful in various fields of production, medicine, and even art.

To date, the institute can boast several completed projects:

• technologies of anilox polygraphic rolls cleaning (result: the Laser innovative enterprise is running efficiently);

• technologies of color laser labeling of metals for identification and counterfeit protection purposes (result: the innovative enterprise Prokolorit was opened);

• an automated laser technological complex for structuring dental implants to improve their biocompatibility (in partnership with the industrial partner Laser Center; implemented at Lenmiriot);

• laser methods for managing functional (optical, wettability, antibacterial, etc.) properties of metal surfaces;

• a manufacturing method of microoptical and diffraction phase components on glass via laser-induced microplasma;

• physical foundations of laser modification of photo-sensitive glass and glass ceramics, semiconductor and dielectric sol-gel films, including those containing nanoparticles;

• physical and technical basic technologies of recording subwavelength components based on thermochemical exposure of laser radiation on metal films;

• methods of laser microporation and photodynamical treatments of biological tissues, including mycoses in dermatology;

• a method of fractional laser therapy of the oral mucosa in dentistry;

• a method of laser hydroacoustic extraction of cataracts;

• a technology of creating photothermal fiber converters for laser surgery.

Research and R&D activities at the Institute of Laser Technologies are supported by different funds. In the past three years, the institute implemented and continues to implement such activities as four Russian Science Foundation-supported grant projects, one project on creating high-tech production within the decree No. 218 by the Russian Government, and one contract as part of the electronic manufacturing project within the Decree No. 2136 by the Russian Government. 

Additionally, the institute partners up with many leading specialized enterprises: Laser Center, Lasertech, Leningrad Laser Systems, etc., as well as industry experts, including Gazprom, Titanmed, Global Insulator Group, Optosense, Signal, Krastsvetmet, and others.

The institute includes the School of Laser Technologies where students educate 8th-11th graders from all over the country about lasers and laser technologies – here, many school students become interested in lasers and start to fulfill their potential as researchers and engineers. Having completed the school, graduates often return to the university as students in laser technologies.

We believe that all large-scale projects grow out of initiatives by passionate and bright individuals; and that’s why we’re always ready to welcome those who can freely think, suggest, and act, as well as fear nothing and be creative in what they do. 

Achievements

The staff members of the Institute of Laser Technologies, or the Department of Laser Technologies and Ecological Instrumentation as it was called then, were repeatedly awarded prizes by the Academy of Sciences (1976) and the Ministry of Higher Education (1983 and 1984) of the Soviet Union for the best scientific papers.

Vadim Veiko (the team leader), Mikhail Libenson, and Georgy Kotov, earned the 1986 USSR State Prize in science and technology for conducting a cycle of works on laser processing of thin films and its implementation. 

The team was awarded three medals (gold, silver, and bronze) at the Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy for producing laser installations in 1975-1985; Vadim Veiko and Mikhail Libenson also received honorary badges Inventor of the USSR.

In 2010, Vadim Veiko and Evgeniy Yakovlev earned the Russian Government Prize in education for creating educational, methodological, scientific, and applied teaching foundations in laser processing of materials. Between 2005 and 2014, the institute’s employees were awarded 6 first-degree diplomas for participation in exhibitions.

In 2000-2015, the staff of the Institute of Laser Technologies was named the leading research school in fundamentals of laser micro- and nanotechnologies in Russia (with the award of the Russian President Prize); within the same timeframe, Vadim Veiko, Evgeniy Yakovlev, Galina Shandybina, and Elena Shahno earned the titles of the Honored Worker of Higher Education. 

Andrey Belikov holds a gold medal from the Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy (certificate No. 559), the Chizhevsky Prize (2002), and the Honorary Diploma of the Ministry of Education and Science (2014).

In 2015, the team of the Institute of Laser Technologies won the big gold medal by A.M. Prokhorov Academy of Engineering Sciences for outstanding achievements in laser engineering and in honor of the laboratory’s 50th anniversary.

The institute raised over 100 PhD and 10 DSc holders who have authored many papers, patents, 10+ monographs (including in English and Chinese), and over 50 educational and methodological aids. 

Equipment

• Technological laser ЛТИ-403;

• Diode-pumped pulsed laser Л12-ЭД;

• Laser installation based on Er:YAG active medium;

• Femtosecond solid-state laser EFO-150;

• Fiber solid-state laser YLP-0.5/80/20;

• Semiconductor laser with fiber output and power supply JOLD-30FC-12;

• StarLux-500-vLC – universal laser-optical station for experimental studying the interaction of laser radiation with biological tissues;

• StLase – adaptive laser system for studying the interaction of radiation with soft biological tissues;

Measuring equipment 

• A complex of equipment for the development and research of new-gen laser biomedical systems

• A complex of equipment for improving the scientific and laboratory framework on developing and studying powerful laser biomedical systems of the future;

• A research and laboratory stand for studying the parameters of interactions between optical and laser radiation and biological tissues;

• A set of equipment for studying the effects of radiation from new-gene biomedical systems on biological tissues;

• A set of equipment for studying the spatial-energy characteristics of the programmable impact of laser radiation on optical materials, including those with micro- and nanoinclusions;

• A stand for measuring the energy and time parameters of laser radiation;

• A pyrotechnic matrix camera;

• Electron-optical camera АГАТ-СФ3;

• Interferometer ЛА-3002;

• Multichannel optical analyzer Р-4;

• Spectrum analyzer С4-60;

• Spectrophotometer СФ-20;

• Thermal imager ThermaCAM;

• Laboratory microscope Axio Scope A1.

Partners

The Institute of Laser Technologies collaborates with the Laser Association (by being a member) and A.M. Prokhorov Academy of Engineering Sciences. It works with many specialized companies like Laser Center and Lasertech, as well as representatives of other industries, such as Gazprom, Titanmed, Global Insulator Group, Optosense, Signal, NLMK, Krastsvetmet, and others.

Its main educational partners are the institutions of the Russian Academy of Sciences – A.M. Prokhorov Academy of Engineering Sciences, Lebedev Physical Institute, and the Institute of Automation and Electrometry; among other partner universities are Baltic State Technical University, St. Petersburg State Marine Technical University, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, the Institute of Problems of Chemical Physics, Samara State Medical University, Moscow Engineering Physics Institute, Vladimir State University, Saratov State University, and others. The institute’s medical partners are the S.N. Fyodorov Eye Microsurgery Complex, the Pavlov First Saint Petersburg State Medical University, and others.

Publications

1. Veiko V. P. et al. Laser paintbrush as a tool for modern art //Optica. – 2021. – Vol. 8. – No. 5. – pp. 577-585.

2. Odintsova G. et al. Investigation of production related impact on the optical properties of color laser marking //Journal of Materials Processing Technology. – 2019. – Vol. 274. – pp. 116263.

3. Odintsova G. V. et al. High-resolution large-scale plasmonic laser color printing for jewelry applications //Optics express. – 2019. – Vol. 27. – No. 3. – pp. 3672-3681.

4. Lijing Z., Zakoldaev R.A., Sergeev M.M., Petrov A.B., Veiko V.P., Alodzhants A.P. Optical sensitivity of waveguides inscribed in nanoporous silicate framework//Nanomaterials, 2021, Vol. 11, No. 1, pp. 123.

5. Ageev E.I., Andreeva Y.M., Ionin A.A., Kashaev N., Kudryashov S.I., Nikonorov N.V., Nuryev R.K., Petrov A.A., Rudenko A.A., Samokhvalov A.A., Saraeva I.N., Veiko V.P. Single-shot femtosecond laser processing of Al-alloy surface: an interplay between Mbar shock waves, enhanced microhardness, residual stresses, and chemical modification//Optics and Laser Technology, 2020, Vol. 126, pp. 106131.

6. Sergeev M.M., Zakoldaev R.A., Itina T., Varlamov P.V., Kostyuk G.K. Real-time analysis of laser-induced plasmon tuning in nanoporous glass composite//Nanomaterials, 2020, Vol. 10, No. 6, pp. 1131.