The EPS will award the Vladilen Letokhov Medal in 2019 for exceptional achievements in laser-matter interaction
The list of the most creative Russian physicists, active during the Russian empire, the Soviet Union or the Russian Federation, includes almost 100 famous names who deeply impacted and shaped all modern physics. Every physicist should know the tribute we owe to Lev Landau, Leonid Mandelstam, Nikolay Basov, Vitaly Ginzburg, Alexander Prokhorov and so many other Russian scientists.
2018 is the year of the 50th anniversary of the EPS. 2018 is also the year celebrating the 50th jubilee of the Institute of Spectroscopy of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ISAN), located in Troitsk, Moscow. On June 20, 2018, this institute was inaugurated as an Historic Site of the European Physical Society (EPS, see e-EPS news of July 2018). Pioneering advanced optical and spectroscopic methods as well as laser cooling techniques, ISAN has welcome outstanding physicists among whom Vladilen Letokhov (1939-2009), one of the fathers of the optical trapping of atoms, of laser spectroscopy and laser-driven isotope separation.
The newly-established Vladilen Letokhov Medal, supported by the Quantum Electronics and Optics Division (QEOD) and the Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics Division (AMOPD) of the EPS, together with ISAN, will aim at recognising outstanding contributions in the field of laser-matter interaction, in particular spectroscopy of atoms and molecules, laser manipulation of atoms, and strong field processes.
The medal will be presented every odd year at a major conference alternatively sponsored by QEOD and AMOPD. The prize will consist of a medal, a certificate and a monetary award whose amount is presently set at 5000 Euros. The medal will be awarded without restriction of nationality of the recipient. It shall be preferentially awarded to a single person. However, in exceptional cases, it will be shared by up to three recipients when all of them have contributed equally to the same achievement.
The medal, established in 2018 as a joint effort by the Russian Academy of Sciences and the EPS, aims at strengthening and increasing the visibility of the link between these two scientific institutions and the communities they represent. The medal is planned to be one of the EPS major awards intended to promote the achievements of researchers working in all fields of laser-matter interaction, with emphasis on excellence and pioneering contributions.
The first award of the prize will take place in April 2019 at the 13th European Conference on Atoms, Molecules and Photons (ECAMP) in Florence, Italy. The first call for nominations will be published no later than six months before the date of presentation of the award.
