The School of Optoelectronics at the V. Lashkaryov Institute of Semiconductor Physics: commemorating the centenary of the birth of Sergei Svechnikov, the first Editor-in-Chief of “SPQEO” (21 July 1926 – 13 April 2017)

Abstract

Abstract

The development of the school of optoelectronics at the V. Lashkaryov Institute of Semiconductor Physics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine is reviewed, with emphasis on the scientific activity and influence of the Academician Serhiy V. Svechnikov. The formation of this scientific school is considered in the context of the development of optoelectronics as an interdisciplinary field combining semiconductor physics, materials science, electronics, and photonics. The principal research directions established and developed under the leadership of S.V. Svechnikov, including optoelectronic devices and systems, photoconductivity and charge-transport phenomena, radiative recombination, photosensitive and light-emitting semiconductor materials, semiconductor heterostructures, laser technologies, and interaction of electromagnetic radiation with semiconductor structures, are discussed. Particular attention is given to the contributions of his disciples and followers, whose research subsequently expanded these directions toward silicon, silicon carbide, nanocrystalline materials, organic semiconductors, porous silicon, and other emerging materials and structures. The development of international scientific cooperation and the establishment of the journal Semiconductor Physics, Quantum Electronics and Optoelectronics (SPQEO), for which S.V. Svechnikov served as the first Editor-in-Chief from 1998 to 2009, are also considered as important components of this scientific school. Selected publications of S.V. Svechnikov and his collaborators in SPQEO are analyzed to illustrate the continuity and evolution of the research initiated at the Institute. The presented overview demonstrates that the Ukrainian school of optoelectronics developed as a broad and multidisciplinary scientific community, whose research directions continued to evolve in response to new materials, technologies, and applications. The 100th anniversary of the S.V. Svechnikov’s birth provides an opportunity to review this scientific heritage and to emphasize its continuing influence on semiconductor physics and optoelectronics.