Calculation, design, and production of optical and optoelectronic systems

This special issue celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Scientific Research Institute for Optoelectronic Instrument Engineering by presenting articles by specialists at the institute devoted to the development and creation of optical and optoelectronic devices, lasers, and laser engineering; mathematical (computer) modeling and processing of digital images; methodological questions of measurements of the optical characteristics; and technologies for fabricating high-accuracy optical components.

The Scientific Research Institute for Optoelectronic Instrument Engineering (NII OÉP) will be 50 years old in September 2019. NII OÉP was formed in 1969 as Branch No. 2 of the S. I. Vavilov State Optical Institute. In 1990 the branch acquired the status of an independent federal enterprise, called the Research Institute for Complex Testing of Optoelectronic Devices and Systems. When the enterprise was transformed into a joint-stock company in 2012, it acquired the current name of Kometa Corporation for Special Space-Based Systems. The integration procedure was completed by including the institute with the parent company in the Almaz-Antey Aerospace Defense Concern Joint Stock Company. The updating of the reorganization tasks and processes naturally entailed definite changes in the thematic scope of scientific and production activity.
Work was resumed on high-orbit surveillance equipment at the beginning of the 2000s, as part of which the institute, besides providing ground testing, proceeded to fabricate the optical channels of the equipment. Test and production facilities were updated and developed in parallel. In the same period, after the institute had successfully completed experimental-design work on creating an optical and optoelectronic assembly for transmitting the azimuthal direction and had accordingly prepared for production, it undertook the serial supply of the indicated items and is continuing to do so at present.
The current name of the institute, acquired when it became a joint-stock company, formalizes the swing from scientific research and test work to thematic activity, which earlier relied upon an existing unique experimental base, and toward instrument construction, with an emphasis on state defense contracts. Topics associated with the creation of optical systems of on-board equipment for observing the Earth and with serial production of devices for transmitting the azimuthal direction occupy an important place among the institute’s specializations. Along with the indicated topics for further development prospects, the institute is pursuing new courses of activity, such as the development and creation of onboard multispectral optoelectronic data-targeting and data-measuring systems and optoelectronic guidance and homing equipment.
This issue presents articles by specialists at the institute devoted to the development and creation of optical and optoelectronic devices, lasers, and laser engineering; mathematical (computer) modeling and processing of digital images; methodological questions of measurements of the optical characteristics; and technologies for fabricating high-accuracy optical components.

Nikolaı˘ Il’ich Pavlov graduated from the A. A. Zhdanov Leningrad State University Physics Department in 1976 and was a full-time graduate student in that department of the same university in 1979, candidate of physico-mathematical sciences (1981), senior scientific fellow with specialization in optics (1991), doctor of technical sciences (2005), and Deputy General Director of scientific work at NII OÉP. The area of his scientific interests includes multispectral optoelectronic devices and optical direction-and-ranging systems, the processing and analysis of optical images, and the interaction of laser radiation with matter. He is the author and coauthor of more than 100 published scientific papers and 12 Russian Federation patents.

Sergeı˘ Evgen’evich Shevtsov graduated from the Leningrad Mechanical Institute Machine-Construction Department in 1981 and was a full-time graduate student at the same institute in 1988, candidate of technical sciences (1988), and General Director of NII OÉP. His main specialization of scientific and engineering activity is associated with the development of progressive high-tech processes for fabricating a special-purpose high-precision optical apparatus that operates in the IR. He is the author and coauthor of 33 published scientific papers and 5 Russian Federation patents.