Aleksandr m. Prokhorov

Aleksandr Mikhailovich Prokhorov was born on July 11th, 1916, in Australia. After the October Revolution he went in 1923 with his parents to the Soviet Union.

In 1934 Alexander Prochorov entered the Physics Department of the Leningrad State University. He attended lectures on quantum mechanics, theory of relativity, on general physics, spectroscopy and on molecular physics. After graduating in 1939 he became a postgraduate student of the P.N. Lebedev Physical Institute in Moscow, in the laboratory of oscillations. There he started to study the problems of propagation of radio waves.

In 1946 he defended his thesis on the theme Theory of Stabilization of Frequency of a Tube Oscillator in the Theory of a Small Parameter.

Starting in 1947, Prochorov carried out a study of the coherent radiation of electrons in the synchrotron in the region of centimetre waves. As a result of these investigations he wrote and defended in 1951 his Ph.D. thesis a "Coherent Radiation of Electrons in the Synchrotron Accelerator".

Starting from 1950 being assistant chief of the laboratory, Prochorov began to investigate on a wide scale the question of radiospectroscopy and, somewhat later, of quantum electronics. He organized a group of young scientists interested in the subjects.

In 1959 when Prochorov has already been the head of the lab, the laboratory of radio astronomy was organized from one of the departments of the laboratory of oscillations, and in 1962 another department was separated as the laboratory of quantum radiophysics (headed by Prof. N.G. Basov).

The investigations carried out by Basov and Prochorov in the field of microwave spectroscopy resulted in the idea of a molecular oscillator. They developed theoretical grounds for creation of a molecular oscillator and also constructed a molecular oscillator operating on ammonia. In 1955, Basov and Prochorov proposed a method for the production of a negative absorption which was called the pumping method.

From 1950 to 1955, Prochorov and his collaborators carried out research on molecular structures by the methods of microwave spectroscopy.

In 1955 Professor Prochorov began to develop the research on electronic paramagnetic resonance (EPR). A cycle of investigations of EPR spectra and relaxation times in various crystals was carried out.

In 1955, Prochorov studied with A.A. Manenkov the EPR spectra of ruby that made it possible to suggest it as a material for lasers in 1957. They designed and constructed masers using various materials and studied characteristics of the masers as well. This research was done in cooperation with the laboratory of radio spectroscopy of the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Moscow University; this laboratory was organized by Prochorov in 1957. One of the masers constructed for a wavelength of 21 cm is used in the investigations of the radioastronomical station of the Physical Institute in Pushino.

In 1958 Prochorov suggested a laser for generation off infrared waves. As a resonator it was proposed to use a new type of cavity which was later called "the cavity of an open type". Practically speaking, it is Fabry-Perot’s interferometer. Similar cavities are widely used in lasers.

At present Prochorov's principal scientific interests lie in the field of solid lasers and their utilization for physical purposes, in particular for studies of multiquantum processes. In 1963, he suggested together with A.S. Selivanenko, a laser using two-quantum transitions.