Vladislav Fedorovich Zolin

Vladislav Fedorovich Zolin, professor, a principal researcher at the Kotel’nikov Institute of Radio-Engineering and Electronics (IRE) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, distinguished physicist, talented and bright man, died on 6 November 2013 in Moscow of heart attack.

Zolin was born in Kuibyshev (Samara), USSR, on 4 July 1935. His mother was schoolteacher. His father, agronomist, was killed at the battlefront in 1945, at the very end of the war. Vladislav’s childhood at the war and postwar time was difficult. In 1952, he went to Moscow and entered the famous Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT). Already as a student, Zolin was involved in the experimental research conducted in the Department of Quantum Radiophysics of IRE. Since then, the whole his life was closely connected with this Department. There, he received his PhD (1964) and, then, Dr. Sci. (1977) degrees. Zolin was a really brilliant man with a deep interest in natural science and vast knowledge in the fields of quantum electronics, optics, solid state physics, molecular biology, chemical engineering, material science.

Zolin’s first works (in collaboration with M.E. Zhabotinsky and V.V. Grigor’ants) were devoted to quantum frequency standards. They were inspired by ideas of future Nobelists N.G. Basov, A.M. Prokhorov, and Ch. Townes and ended with writing a book. In the middle 1960s, Zolin, who was by then head of a large research group consisting of experimentalists and theorists, entered into two new highly topical areas of research, namely, spectroscopy of rare-earth (RE) compounds and nonlinear optics of molecular crystals. The first of them was stimulated by a creation of lasers on RE ions and by progress in color television. Zolin pioneered in developing methods of RE probing of structure and properties of coordination compounds and complex biological objects. Here, as milestones, a new method that combined NMR and optical spectroscopy (in collaboration with L.G. Koreneva and T.A. Babushkina) and a method of analizing vibronic spectra (in collaboration with V.I. Tsaryuk) could be mentioned. This research was summarized in two monographs (in co-authorship with M.I. Gaiduk, L.S. Gaigerova, and L.G. Koreneva) that became reference books in many laboratories. Zolin was among the organizers of the first conferences in the USSR (1967, 1969) on spectroscopy and properties of RE-doped compounds. An important result of this period was elaboration and study of new phosphors based on oxisulfides, oxihalogenides, phosphates, and other nonorganic matrixes doped with RE ions (in collaboration with the group of N.P. Soshchin).

During the same period of time, Zolin, in collaboration with L.G. Koreneva and B.L. Davydov, opened a new area in nonlinear optics, based on his discovery of a relationship between the nonlinear susceptibility and intramolecular charge transfer in molecular crystals. This gave a possibility to formulate principles of a pointed search of organic compounds with large nonlinear susceptibility. A subsequent work in this direction initiated a writing of two monographs, in co-authorship with Koreneva and Davydov.

In the 1980s, Zolin, together with V.M. Markushev and Ch.M. Briskina, was the first to observe laser action in scattering media and, then, investigated mechanisms of generation in such media. These works stimulated research on “random lasers” all over the world. In the 1990s, Zolin was one of initiators of work in Russia on constructing thin-film organic electroluminescent devices and selection of organic materials for emitting layers of these devices. Together with Yu.O. Yakovlev, V. Tsaryuk, K. Zhuravlev, and V. Kudryashova, he studied energy transfer effects in coordination compounds of lanthanides and worked out ways to control optical properties of new materials using methods of molecular engineering and crystallography.

Zolin supervised more than 20 PhD and DrSci theses, he trained many young scientists who actively work now in research laboratories in Russia and other countries. He was always ready to help his colleagues in their new undertakings. Zolin’s interests were not confined to science. He perfectly knew belles-lettres, art, and music. Human nature and characters always interested him, this was one of the reasons why Somerset Maugham was among his favorite authors. It was a pleasure to listen his beautiful voice singing opera arias. Zolin’s vast erudition, keen intellect, exceptional benevolence, kindness, humor, and sincere interest in any person always attracted not only his colleagues but also other people who did not know him well. Up to his last day, Vladislav Zolin actively worked and was open to new ideas. He is sorely missed by his friends, scientific community, by all those who knew him.

Vera I. Tsaryuk
Charus M. Briskina
Vadim A. Atsarkin
Kotel’nikov Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics RAS,
Moscow, Russia
Marina N. Popova
Institute of Spectroscopy RAS,
Troitsk, Moscow, Russia