From left to right: S.A. Asselborn, M.V. Bolshakov, D.G. Pikhulya, E.A. Bibikova, K.A. Zaitsev,
N.D. Kundikova, D.S. Isakov, I.I. Popov

The laboratory of nonlinear optics was founded in 1987 by Boris Yakovlevich Zeldovich, who brought with him from Moscow his graduate students and invited from Moscow several employees. They formed the core of the laboratory and began training students of physicists, and they, basically, are now working in the laboratory. The first experimental results of the laboratory were obtained in the study of the interaction of light waves in photorefractive crystals under unsteady conditions. Experimental work on the study of second harmonic generation in centrosymmetric media (optical fibers) led to the formation of the concept of polar-asymmetric light fields and a cycle of studies of optical effects in polar-asymmetric light fields. Experimental detection of the optical Magnus effect and interpretation of this effect as a result of the spin-orbit interaction of the photon allowed to predict and experimentally detect a number of optical effects associated with the manifestation of the spin-orbit interaction of the photon. The need for precision polarization measurements led to the development of new methods for generating light beams with a given state of polarization and high-precision methods for determining the state of polarization. Much attention is paid to photonic crystals and beams with special properties. Students and post-graduate students of the faculty of physics of South Ural state University take part in the research, and the laboratory staff conducts classes with students of the Department of optics and spectroscopy.

Recognition of scientific achievements of the laboratory

Max Born prize of the American optical society

Galileo prize of the International Commission on optics