‘The whole point of science is not the results but the creative process’
Alexey Zhukov, St Petersburg School of Physics, Mathematics, and Computer Science
In 1992, I graduated with honours from the joint department of the Ioffe Institute with Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute. Then, I started working for the Ioffe Institute at the laboratory of Zhores Alferov who became a Nobel Prize laureate in physics in 2000. There, I started to engage in the synthesis of semiconductor nanostructure—quantum wells and quantum dots with the method of molecular-beam epitaxy.
I was a member of the researchers’ team which was the first in the world to create a semiconductor quantum dot laser. In 1996, I defended my candidate's dissertation, and in 2002—my doctoral dissertation. My doctoral dissertation is fully devoted to obtaining and studying the properties of quantum dot lasers.
Since 2007, I had been working at the St Petersburg Academic University of the Russian Academy of Sciences (now referred to as the Alferov University) where I founded a laboratory of nanophotonics. I started working at HSE University in 2020. Together with my colleagues who transferred from the Academic University with me, we created here the International Laboratory of Quantum Optoelectronics where we conduct research in such actively developing spheres as micro-optoelectronics (micro-lasers, micro-photodetectors), integral optoelectronics, integration of optoelectronics devices A3B5 with silicon.
My colleagues from the laboratory and I are very grateful to HSE University for not being afraid of developing the physical sphere in education and science on the St Petersburg campus focusing on its own experimental laboratory as well as for the help with funding to form an experimental scientific base of the laboratory and support of our research direction.
The importance of this direction is related to the need to create fast-acting, energy-efficient devices which would be capable of meeting the growing demand to transmit and process data, including Internet traffic. In brief, the basic paradigm lies in introducing the principles of optical connection to process and transmit data to increasingly smaller distances: if initially optical connection serviced the data transmission between continents and cities, now, it is implemented in data centres, there are pilot projects for its use in transmitting information between separate electronic chips and even inside a chip. The problem is that silicon, the number one material in microelectronics, cannot emit light. Now, it becomes clear that quantum dots which are still my favourite study object are perfect candidates for both creating light-emitting devices on silicon and the maximum miniaturisation of optoelectronic devices.
In this and related directions, my colleagues and I received lots of priority results at the global level such as the first vertically radiating laser on silicon, the first quantum dots lasers in the spectral range of optical connection of 1.3 μm, micro-disc lasers in record small sizes, first experiments in high-speed optical data transmission with the help of micro-disc quantum dots lasers, micro-lasers on silicon operating at elevated temperatures. I have more than 1000 research works, including several monographs and reviews, and more than 600 articles are included on the Web of Science base. H-index 53…54. In 2022 and 2023, the scientometrical website 'Research.com' awarded me first place in the ranking of Russian researchers working in the sphere of Electronics and Electrical Engineering. I have several patents. In 2008, I was elected to the Russian Academy of Sciences. Twice (in 2010 and 2017), I became a laureate of the St Petersburg Government Prize for outstanding scientific results in the sphere of science and technology. In 2024, I was awarded a Certificate of Gratitude from the President of the Russian Federation.