The Institute on Laser and Information Technologies – ILIT RAS (Scientific
Research Center for Technological Lasers – NICTL AN till 1998) was founded on
June, 21 of 1979 upon the Decision of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of
Sciences "On the NICTL AN organization".
Unlike ordinary research institutes, this Center, along with the pursuance of
fundamental and applied research, was to be occupied with the development of laser
technologies, designing industrial lasers (IL), appropriate laser equipment, and
with other problems aimed at provision of home industry with industrial lasers and
technologies in the shortest possible time. The idea of the Center was suggested by
Academician Evgenii P. Velikhov (who at that time was Vice-President of the USSR
Academy of Sciences), and actively supported by Academician Anatolii P. Alexandrov,
the President of the Academy.
Academician E.P.Velikhov who pioneered the establishment of NICTL AN
(presently ILIT RAS), and V.Ya.Panchenko, Corresponding Member of RAS,
Director of ILIT RAS since 1992
The investigations conducted by NICTL AN were aimed at the development of
laser equipment and technology for civilian use only. The foundation of NICTL AN,
large national investments in its construction, equipping, and staffing initiated
the process of establishing research-and-production enterprises engaged in the
development of advanced laser technologies for civilian purposes and their
implementation in various industries: mechanical engineering, transport, aerospace
industry, computer technologies, micro- and optoelectronics, medicine, and
environmental control.
It was essential that NICTL AN should undertake the tasks which had never been
systematically approached, i.e. the development and implementation of "power" laser
technologies, introduction of promising laser applications to material processing
and biomedicine.
A series of priority developments of fundamental and applied nature
in the area of high optical technologies has become the practical result of these
activities.
The major tasks of NICTL, according to its Statute, were as follows:
1. Development of laser physics as applied to production of high-power gaseous
lasers for processing of materials.
2. Development and production of prototype models of process lasers with various
active media and methods of their excitation.
3. Study of efficient applications for laser technology.
4. Rendering scientific and technical assistance in implementation of laser
equipment in economics.
5. Jointly with the Ministry of Higher Education, training of specialists for
industrial application of laser systems.
6. Coordination of investigations on laser technology for civilian use with
the research enterprises of the USSR for the purpose of improving the work efficiency.
7. Pursuance of patenting and licensing research, issue of information on
process lasers and their applications.
8. International scientific cooperation in the field of research, development
and production of process lasers.
9. Establishment of cooperative relations with industry, and organization of the
commercial-scale production of lasers.
G.A.Abilsiitov was appointed the Director of NICTL AN; and Prof. V.S.Golubev became a
Deputy Director in Science.
Establishment of NICTL AN was preceded by the design of the first experimental
CO2 lasers (5kW and more) at the subsidiary of the Kurchatov Institute
of Atomic Energy (FIAE, Troitsk) Under the scientific guidance of FIAE,
experiments have been conducted at many institutes and industrial enterprises to
demonstrate the processes of hardening, surfacing, welding, cutting, and hole
punching with high-power CO2 laser radiation.
By the late 70’s, scientific and technical prerequisites had been created in our
country for wide practical implementation of material processing with high-power
industrial CO2 lasers (IL). By that time, the scientific basis had
been provided by the leading scientific schools headed by academicians
A.M.Prokhorov, N.G.Basov, R.V.Khokhlov, E.P.Velikhov, Yu.Ya.Ishlinsky, V.A.Glukhikh
for the development of lasers of all the basic types, processes of laser-matter
interaction, laser optics, and laser equipment.
The production of process lasers with the mean power of tens to hundreds of
watts (CO2- and solid-state lasers) by the enterprises of the Ministry
of Electronic Industry was limited at that time (mainly by internal needs). Those
lasers were successfully tested at production plants. Till the end of the 70’s,
there was not a single industrial Ministry that was engaged in the development
and production of powerful IL for the national economy. The high scientific level
of fundamental development of IL and material processing technology at FIAE,
as well as successful testing under industrial conditions testified to the necessity
of wide implementation of laser technology, which was realized in establishing
NICTL AN.
NICTL AN started its legal activities in December of 1979 in Troitsk. In 1980,
a decision was taken to construct new buildings of the research and production
section of NICTL AN in Shatura. The construction was finished in 1985. The
majority of the scientific and design personnel of the NICTL AN were skilled
specialists from top-rank universities and research centers of Russia.
The tasks declared in the Statute of NICTL AN had been solved in large by
the early 90’s.
By the years of 1988-1991, the production prototypes of high-power industrial
CO2 lasers had been manufactured, several types of computer-aided
laser processing systems had been developed, several tens of processes of material
treatment with laser had been developed and industrially tested, the basic
research had been pursued in the fields of laser microtechnology and biomedicine.
After 1992, NICTL AN focused more of its efforts on the development of
laser-information technologies to be mainly applied in stereolithography,
micro- and optoelectronics, and biomedicine. During that period, the Institute
obtained new results in the development of high-beam-quality industrial CO2
lasers, as well as in physics and technology of laser processing (cutting, welding)
with deep penetration of powerful laser beam into substance.
In view of this change of priorities in the research area, the NICTL was
renamed to the Institute on Laser and Information Technologies in 1998 by a
decision of the Presidium of RAS.
The world scientific community highly appreciated the efforts of ILIT RAS in
the development of laser and information technologies for the following applications:
- submicron structure formation;
- production of new optoelectronic elements (narrow-band optical filters) and basic elements for optical information systems;
- remote fabrication of 3D objects, and biomodeling;
- adaptive optical correction of radiation of high-power industrial lasers, and lasers applied in basic research.
The Institute’s activities in laser biomedicine have also won a high appraisal:
- remote biomodeling of skeletal fragments and individual implants by the method of laser stereolithography using the input data transmitted via the Internet;
- intellectual laser system “Perfocor” for heart surgery (a procedure of transmyocaridal laser revascularization);
- thermal laser plastics of cartilaginous tissues;
- laser diagnostics of biotissue type in real time with the Doppler spectroscopy
