At the beginning of 1990 a group of Russian scientists,including P.P. Pashinin, A.M. Prokhorov, K.A. Prokhorov, V.M. Yermachenko, and I.V. Yevseyev initiated an ambitious project: launching a new international journal on laser physics. Their aim was not merely to publish another journal on the physics of lasers, rather, they wanted to edit a journal whose scope would comprise several interrelated branches of science and engineering where the underlying physics and technology of lasers played a key role. Thus, in addition to the modern branches of optics, namely coherent phenomena, nonlinear optics, quantum optics,quantum electrodynamics or more generally the interaction of radiation with matter, they also wanted to extend the pages of this new journal to authors that develop and use lasers as experimental tools for important advances in the fields of engineering, physics, chemistry, biology, informatics,ecology, medicine, etc. The founders realized that although this broad profile of topics made their journal unique among all other related archival periodicals, this breadth required them, on the other hand, to develop a coherent editorial policy that can unite the different practices, styles and cultures of these cross-disciplinary fields. Their overriding emphasis was, and continues to be, the timely publication of only high quality scientific research results while ensuring that the manuscripts, accepted for publication, are written clearly and in such a style that make them accessible to the broad-based readership of the Journal.
The new journal was named Laser Physics. The renowned Russian laser physicist and Nobel Prize winner Professor Alexander M. Prokhorov, became the first Editor-in-Chief of Laser Physics. It was very important for the journal that Professor Prokhorov worked for Laser Physics as its Editor-in-Chief in the making of the journal from the Laser Physics foundation in 1990 up to the death of Professor Prokhorov on January 8, 2002. Just under the leadership of Professor Prokhorov the Laser Physics journal became the one which enjoys universal esteem and is now found on the shelves of the leading laser related research centers and institutes throughout the world. Professor Igor V. Yevseyev became the first Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Laser Physics journal and continues to work for it up to now. Beginning on February 1, 2002, Professor Pavel P. Pashinin, one of the founders of Laser Physics and a follower of Professor Alexander M. Prokhorov, is at the head of the Editorial Board of the Journal.
The first Editorial Board included in addition to the founders, A.M. Dykhne (Russia), J.H. Eberly (USA), M.V. Fedorov (Russia), D.N. Klyshko (Russia), N. Kroo (Hungary), E. D. Protsenko (Russia), P.M. Saari (Estonia), V.V. Samartsev (Russia), A.P. Shotov (Russia), H. Walther (Germany), D.A. Wiersma (the Netherlands), C. Yamanaka (Japan), and V.I. Yukalov (Russia). This was the first step in expanding the editorial team of Laser Physics journal internationally thus ensuring the inclusion of those active and unique scientific areas that developed and are active in other parts of the world outside Russia. The founders understand and encourage the simple fact that scientific and technological activities are now a global enterprise, undertaken for the benefit and advancement of Humanity. They also believe that providing the means to disseminate worldwide important research results in a timely fashion should be the goal of any journal aiming at excellence and the advancement of science and technology. The rapid growth in information technology opened up many avenues for optimizing the editorial process, and is helping the founders to benefit from an international Editorial Board. At present, the Editorial Board includes scientists from twelve countries: Brazil, Canada, China, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, and the USA.
The editorial practices of Laser Physics are the following: First, only peer-reviewed articles that receive the highest ratings by referees are accepted for publication. Second, we publish free of charge original as well as review articles. Third, we ensure fast publication of accepted manuscripts: the period from submission to publication taking, on average, four months. Fourth, we do not impose restrictions on the length of articles. This permits authors to describe in full details important experimental setups or mathematical or experimental methodologies. Finally, fifth, we provide a unique opportunity of accepting papers written not only in English but also in Russian. Upon acceptance, such manuscripts are translated free of charge to the authors by one of the highly qualified staff members in our editorial offices. Our practice is that the duration of the publication cycle of these articles is not different from those manuscripts submitted in English. This last feature adds to the attractiveness of the Laser Physics journal to those scientists that write in Russian, and that desire to disseminate their original research work to the scientific community in a timely fashion.
It is necessary to recognize the special contributions of the Laser Physics Editorial Board to the organization of the annual "International Laser Physics Workshops". Our first Workshop, LPHYS'92, took place in Dubna in 1992 and the second Workshop was held in 1993 on ship during a Volga tour, Moscow-Nizhny Novgorod-Moscow. The hard work of organizing these first two Workshops were mainly those of a member of the Laser Physics Editorial Board, Professor Vyacheslav I. Yukalov (Russia). The third Workshop was held in New York in 1994, and signaled its international reach and embrace, was organized successfully by Professor Sven R. Hartmann (USA) and Professor Jamal T. Manassah (USA), the members of the Laser Physics Editorial Board. The organization of the fourth Workshop in 1995, held again during a Volga tour Moscow-Yaroslavl-Moscow, and of the fifth Workshop held in Moscow in 1996 owed their success to the Moscow-based members of the Editorial Board and to a member of the Editorial Board, Professor Joseph H. Eberly (USA). The sixth Workshop, which took place in Prague in 1997, owed its success to the invaluable assistance of Dr. Jaroslav Jelinek (Czech Republic). The seventh Workshop in Berlin, held in 1998, and which attracted so far the largest attendance, greatly benefited from the help of the members of the Editorial Board, Professor Wolfgang Sandner (Germany) and Professor Herbert Walther (Germany), as well as Professor Wilhelm Becker (Germany) and Professor Wolfgang P. Schleich (Germany). The eighth Workshop in Budapest in 1999 organized as part of the UNESCO sponsored "World Congress on Science" owes much to a member of the Editorial Board, Professor Norbert Kroo (Hungary), as well as Professor Jozsef Janszky (Hungary). The ninth Workshop, which was held in Bordeaux in 2000, could not take place without hard work of Professor Guillaume Petite (France). The tenth Workshop, which took place in Moscow in 2001, owed their success to the Moscow-based members of the Editorial Board. The eleventh Workshop in Bratislava in 2002, owed its success to the invaluable assistance of Prof. Dusan Horvat and Dr. Frantisek Ugerek. The information concerning subsequent workshops can be found on www.lasphys.com/workshops/. It is important to stress, that the proceedings of all the Workshops were published in the journal Laser Physics.