The article presents a summary of scientific and pedagogical activity of a leading researcher of the Institute of Image Processing Systems of Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Professor Sergey Vladimirovich Karpeev, a well known expert in the field of computer optics. The celebrant`s contribution to the development of methods of research of diffractive optical elements and the use of computer optics methods to solve a wide range of problems is being analyzed in the article.
In September, 1973 Sergey Karpeev became a student of the newly established
Faculty of System Engineering of the Kuibyshev Aviation Institute (from 1992 Kuibyshev
Aviation Institute (KuAI) was named Samara State Aerospace University (SSAU),
and from 2015 - Samara National Research University). From the second course of
his study at the institute Sergey Karpeev began to do research under the guidance of
Viсtor Soifer, who at the time was the first dean of the faculty. That was when
Soifer`s research interests have spread to a new and rapidly developing field of
digital holography, which later transformed into a more common one called computer
optics. The Institute of Automation and Electrometry (IAE) then became one of the
leaders in the new direction of the optical information science. It was in collaboration
with researchers from Akademgorodok that the first studies on digital holography
were held by the Soifer group. During his study Sergey Karpeev has twice passed
practice in the Institute of Automation and Electrometry under the leadership of E.
Nezhevenko, he met a young specialist A. Poleshchuk, and their cooperation
continues to this day. At that time the USSR industry did not produce laboratory equipment
for the coherent-optical research, so the first optomechanics set was made to order at
the KuAI experimental plant according to the design made in Novosibirsk. Sergey
Karpeev was directly involved in production, combining his studies with work at the
Chair of Automated Control Systems (ACS) in the position of research assistant. At
this time the first M-6000 and ES computers appear at the institute, which make it
possible to produce and explore the first diffractive optical elements (DOE), which at
that time were called digital or machine holograms.
After graduating with honors in 1979 by the direction of the Ministry of Higher and
Secondary Specialised Education of the RSFSR Sergey Karpeev began working as an
engineer. 1980 became the year when the Soifer group began cooperation with an
office of the Physical Institute of the USSR Academy of sciences (later GPI AS),
which has had a huge impact on the fate of Sergey Karpeev and on the whole group of
Soifer in general. Director of GPI was a Nobel Prize winner Academician A.M.
Prokhorov, and the locomotive of this cooperation from the GPI side then was the
Head of the laboratory of oscillations I.N. Sissakian, a great scientist and a wonderful
person, who died already more than 20 years ago. It was then that the first results of
cooperation of mathematicians and programmers with physicists- opticians appeared.
Soon emerged an important area of cooperation, which was destined to become one of
the breakthrough – focusators of laser radiation. The theme of controlled
thermonuclear fusion was then on everyone's lips, and one of the fundamental problems the
scientists were faced with was control of the area shape of focusing laser radiation,
acting on plasma. Then once again the gift for foresight of a great man, Academician
A.M. Prokhorov, was confirmed, who offered to carry out laser radiation focusing in
specified regions of space with the help of computer synthesized elements which were
named focusators. First focusator in longitudinal section [
All this has helped to create a scientific basis, and in 1983 Karpeev became a correspondence postgraduate in KuAI. His dissertation was planned to be defended in Moscow, in the Council at the GPI on the specialty 01.04.04 "Physical Electronics, including Quantum." According to the Higher Attestation Commission (WAC) regulation at that time only university graduates of physical specialties were allowed to defend their thesis in physical specialties. The rest, including Karpeev, had to pass additional exams in university course of general physics. GPI management regarded this exam and then candidate examination on the specialty very serious, it suffices to say that the examination committee was chaired by N. V.Karlov, the future academician and rector of MIPT. Among the Commission members there also was I.N. Sissakian, Karpeev`s second supervisor, and that further enhances the responsibility. Karpeev has passed both exams successfully, and after that the thesis defense at the most authoritative in this specialty Dissertation Council of the Soviet Union no longer seemed an insurmountable obstacle.
After successfully defending his candidate thesis in 1985 Sergey Karpeev began
teaching at KuAI as an assistant of the Department of Technical Cybernetics. It was
necessary to introduce a number of new courses for the newly emerging specialization
associated with diffractive optics on the faculty. In 1990 Karpeev received the title of
associate professor in the Department of Technical Cybernetics, and next 15 years he
worked at the department, teaching both subjects for optical information
specializations and for future professionals in the field of image processing. He introduced the
courses in optical informatics, optical measurement, optical information technologies
and systems, optical information processing. Also he was reading courses on
information theory, digital signal processing, automated image processing systems, and
others.
Karpeev did not leave his science activities. The theme of Modans developed rapidly,
there appeared phase [
In 2005, the director of the Institute of Image Processing Systems (IPSI RAS), laureate of the State Prize of Russia in the field of science and technology, V.A. Soifer proposed to transfer Sergey Karpeev to IPSI RAS in order to enhance his scientific research and preparation of his doctoral thesis. The research results obtained in the previous 20 years formed the basis of the monograph written by Karpeev and published by the Radio and Communication publishing house in 2005.
After defending in 2006 his doctoral dissertation Sergey Karpeev did not leave his pedagogical activity and was elected professor of the Department of nanoengineering of SSASU. Already at the new department he published a textbook jointly with S.N. Khonina, based largely on the results obtained in his doctoral thesis.
The work at the new department has expanded the area of Karpeev`s scientific
interests and gave him impetus to address such urgent issues as astigmatic modal
transformations [
An important application of DOE becomes their joint use with birefringent crystals
[
S.V. Karpeev has more than 100 scientific publications, 12 patents, he is the author of
the monograph. The article [
The successes of S.V. Karpeev in scientific and pedagogical activity were awarded with: ─ a regional premium in Science and Technology in 2008 - the Order of the Governor of the Samara region of 28.04.2009 № 119-p; ─ in 2013, the Diploma of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Samara region; ─ the title of "Honorary Veteran of Labour of SSAU - a SSAU order, on 23.12.2004.
In conclusion we would like to wish Sergey Karpeev to have strong health, boundless energy, ongoing scientific curiosity, outstanding students, and new creative achievements.