Obituary of Vladimir Sychugov (1939-2012)

Vladimir Alexandrovitch Sychugov died 18 December 2012 in Moscow, at the age of 73. He was one of the pioneers of integrated optics who, contemporaneously with eminent researchers such as T. Tamir and H. Nishihara, developed the phenomenology of waveguide diffraction gratings. As the head of the Optoelectronics Laboratory of the Institute of General Physics in Moscow, he was the originator of major contributions to this field. He discovered the nature of what became known as resonant reflection from a grating waveguide¹ - and he then applied this understanding of gratings in optical waveguides to the control of laser emission² and to biosensing³. He also carried out pioneering work with another type of diffractive laser feedback, obtaining a high level of spatial coherence by means of a waveguide crossed grating, thereby ensuring non-collinear resonant light redistribution within the reflected wavefront⁴. The same powerful concept was applied to the self-writing of highly uniform plasmon-induced metal corrugations, under conical incidence⁵. Before the name was adopted, V.A. Sychugov conceived and demonstrated a 2D Bragg-waveguide laser that prefigures photonic crystal channel guidance⁶. Another important contribution in resonant diffraction was his solution for 100% waveguide coupling efficiency with a finite size beam incident from free-space⁷. Last but not least, he also pioneered high-efficiency, high damage-threshold, all-dielectric, pulse-compression gratings⁸.

The main characteristic of V. Sychugov’s research activity has been a deep and creative physical insight into optical phenomena. History has chosen that such an impressive body of scientific achievement has remained in the shade and has not received the recognition it deserves. The undersigned acknowledge this contribution to optical science and thereby wish to preserve the memory of an inventive, free-thinking, generous and unpretentious personality.

This obituary was contributed by: Prof. J. Ctyroky, Czech Republic; Prof. R. DeLaRue, UK; Prof. H. Hoekstra, The Netherlands; Prof. Lifeng Li, China; Prof. R. Magnusson, USA; Prof. H. Nishihara, Japan; Prof. E. Popov, France; Prof. M. Smit, The Netherlands; Prof. T. Tamir, USA; and by coworkers and heirs of V. Sychugov’s legacy: I. Avrutsky (USA), N. Lyndin (Russia), D. Nurligareev (Russia), O. Parriaux (France), A. Tikhomirov (Australia), A. Tishchenko (France), B. Usievich (Russia).

Major premières contributions of V.A. Sychugov to optical sciences

• 1. G. A. Golubenko, A. S. Svakhin, V. A. Sychugov, and A. V. Tishchenko, “Total reflection of light from a corrugated surface of a dielectric waveguide,” Sov. J. Quantum Electron. 15(7), 886–887 (1985).
• 2. I.D. Avrutskii, G.A. Golubenko, A.V. Sychugov, A.V. Tishchenko, “Light reflection from the surface of a corrugated waveguide”, Sov. Tech. Phys. Lett, 11(8), 401-402, (1985).
• 3. N.M. Lyndin, V.A. Sychugov, A.V. Tishchenko, B.A. Usievich, “Analytical methods and apparatus employing an optical sensor device with refractive index modulation”, US patent 6218194, 2001.
• 4. V.A. Sychugov, A.V. Tishchenko, A.A. Khakimov, “Nonlocalized Bragg mirror of the corner-reflector type”, Sov. Tech. Phys. Lett., Vol. 5, No 10, pp. 533-534, 1979.
• 5. A.M. Prokhorov, V.A. Sychugov, A.V. Tishchenko, A.A. Khakimov, “Excitation of surface electromagnetic waves at a solid interface by an intense laser beam”, Sov. Tech. Phys. Lett., Vol. 8, No 8, pp. 415-416, 1982.
• 6. V.A. Sychugov, A.V. Tishchenko, A.A. Khakimov, “Thin-film laser based on a Bragg waveguide”, Sov. J. Quantum Electron., Vol. 10, No 10, pp. 1314-1315, 1980.
• 7. I.A. Avrutsky, A.S. Svakhin, V.A. Sychugov, O. Parriaux, “High-efficiency single-order waveguide grating coupler”, Opt. Lett., Vol. 15, No 24; pp. 1446-1448 (1990).
• 8. A.S. Svakhin, V.A. Sychugov, A.E. Tikhomirov, “Diffraction gratings with high optical strength for laser resonators”, Quant. Electron., Vol. 24, No 3, pp. 233-235, (1994).