Nikolay Basov

Nikolay Basov was a Soviet and Russian physicist whose work on quantum electronics helped establish masers and lasers. He shared the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics with Alexander Prokhorov and Charles Townes.

Alexander Prokhorov: Alexander Prokhorov was a Soviet physicist who shared the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics for work on masers and lasers. Basov and Prokhorov collaborated at the Lebedev Physical Institute on microwave amplification.
Stimulated emission: Stimulated emission occurs when an incoming photon prompts an excited atom or molecule to emit a matching photon. Basov’s maser and laser research depended on producing amplification through this process.
Soviet physics: Soviet physics was the research community and institutional system that developed in the Soviet Union. Basov’s training and scientific career took place within this system.
Optical pumping: Optical pumping uses light to redistribute atoms among quantum states. Basov investigated optical methods for creating the population inversion needed in lasers.
Charles Townes: Charles Townes was an American physicist whose research helped establish masers and lasers. Townes independently developed the maser principle and shared Basov’s 1964 Nobel Prize.
Population inversion: Population inversion is a condition in which more particles occupy an excited state than a lower-energy state. Basov and Prokhorov identified it as a requirement for amplifying radiation by stimulated emission.
Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology: The Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology is a Russian university specializing in science and engineering. Basov studied there before joining the Lebedev Physical Institute.
Ruby laser: The ruby laser is a solid-state laser that Theodore Maiman demonstrated in 1960. It was an early practical realization of optical amplification developed from quantum-electronics research.
Nobel Prize in Physics: The Nobel Prize in Physics is an annual award recognizing major contributions to physics. The 1964 award recognized Basov, Prokhorov, and Townes for foundational work in quantum electronics.
Maser: A maser amplifies or generates electromagnetic waves through stimulated emission, typically at microwave frequencies. Basov helped develop methods for creating molecular masers and sustaining microwave amplification.

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Charles H. TownesRelated: Basov and Alexander Prokhorov independently developed key ideas for molecular generators and amplifiers.