This nonlinear world (1979)

A ray of light.

A model of a molecular crystal lattice.

The concept of linearity.

Refraction of light in a prism.

An experiment showing the law of light reflection.

The beam can be divided into parts, but in a homogeneous medium it always remains straight.

Air, water can lower its strength, but never change color.

It was believed that light is not able to disrupt the harmonic vibrations in the molecules of matter, so its brightness varies proportionally.

Pendulums.

Photo by S.I. Vavilov.

In the mid-20s, he discovered an unusual behavior of light rays.

Experience with condensed spark.

The beam passing through the uranium glass disproportionately changed its brightness.

True, the nonlinearity was barely noticeable.

Photo of Vavilov at the instruments.

If Vavilov could have increased the brightness of the source even more, he would have found that the dark glass becomes transparent, and the dependence curve steeply rushes up.

This meant that the bright light strongly rocked the molecular system, which means it changed the optical properties of the substance.

The pendulum.

Vavilov realized that the effect he had discovered was not a single one, but it was about the emergence of a new science.

Nonlinear optics.

Instruments on the shelves of the laboratory.

In his opinion, such processes took place on the stars.

Space.

The rocket rises into space.

A powerful source necessary for research in nonlinear optics appeared 40 years later.

Awarding of the Nobel Prize for Laser to A.M. Prokhorov and N.G. Basov.

It turned out that the angle of incidence of the laser beam is not always equal to the angle of reflection.

Experience.

The environment can change the color of the beam.

Red and green laser beams generate another beam - blue.

At high light power, the rays acquire the ability to self-focus, stretch into a thin thread.

A cartoon explaining the applied meaning of the laser.

With the help of a laser beam, it was proposed to break pre-selected bonds in molecules, to create substances with specified properties.

The ability to influence DNA molecules or look into the storerooms of nature.

View of the Stalin high-rise from the Moscow State University Observatory.

A team of non-line scientists was created at the Department of Wave Processes of the Faculty of Physics of Moscow State University.

It was headed by R.V. Khokhlov, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences.

Photos of R.V. Khokhlov with employees.

Rem Khokhlov is a mountaineer.

The pilot lands the plane.

Lasers began to be used in optical rangefinders and locators, fiber-optic communication lines.

Lasers process heat-resistant materials.

Scientific equipment.

Laser installation.

The laser beam is of a strictly defined color and can affect molecules at a very limited frequency range.

Photo of Khokhlov with his colleagues.

Khokhlov suggested the possibility of a smooth change in the frequency of lasers by methods of nonlinear optics.

The medium can change the light of the beam, and hence the frequency.

Experience: The laser emits an invisible infrared beam.

Put a crystal in its path and the beam becomes visible.

It's not easy.

The position of the crystal relative to the beam is arbitrary, and there were no such crystals in nature.

The crystals had to be grown in the laboratory.

A sample of such a crystal.

Operation of a parametric light generator.

The palette of light frequencies becomes richer.

Molecular lattice on the background of piano strings.

Photo of the creators of the generator R.V. Khokhlov and S.A. Akhmanov.

Scientists for the development of the basics of nonlinear optics and parametric light generator were awarded the Lenin Prize.

Rem Khokhlov at the VI conference of the International Association of Universities.

Classes at MSU.

A field covered with grain crops.

Scientists believe that the green leaf of the plant is a battery where the energy of the sun is converted into a stream of electrons.

This process is instantaneous.

The lightning discharge is a thousand times slower.

The light is reflected in a drop of water on a leaf.

Plants in the laboratory.

Nonlinear optics made it possible to create a laser with a short and powerful flash.

During the flash, the light manages to pass only a third of a millimeter.

Experience.

A view of harvesting through a plant leaf.

Sea.

Nonlinear optics finds application in environmental protection.

Ships at sea.

A laser beam like a giant probe penetrates into the depths of the ocean.

The echo signal reports the smallest particles in its path.

Sonar readings.

The state of the environment is determined directly on the ship.

Scientists are trying to get energy without polluting the environment.

Scientific equipment for producing plasma, a source of colossal energy.

View of the laboratory equipment for obtaining a thermonuclear reaction.

32 laser beams are directed to one point where the fusion of deuterium and tritium nuclei will occur.

Photo by S.I. Vavilov.

Vavilov's experience.

Measuring equipment in the time of Vavilov.