Alferov then served as the director of the Ioffe Institute from 1987[5] to 2003. He was elected a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union in 1972, and a full member in 1979. From 1989, he was Vice-President of the USSR Academy of Sciences and President of its Saint Petersburg Scientific Center.
Starting at Ioffe Institute in 1953, Alferov worked with a group led by Vladimir Tuchkevich, who became director of the Ioffe Institute in 1967, on planar semiconductor amplifiers for use in radio receivers.[6]: 125–128 These planar semiconductor amplifiers would be referred to as transistors in the present day. Alferov's contribution included work on germanium diodes for use as a rectifier.
In the early 1960s, Alferov organized an effort at Ioffe Institute to develop semiconductorheterostructures. Semiconductor heterojunctions transistors enabled higher frequency use than their homojunction predecessors, and this capability plays a key role in modern mobile phone and satellite communications. Alferov and colleagues worked on GaAs and AlAsIII-V heterojunctions. A particular focus was the use of heterojunctions to create semiconductor lasers capable of lasing at room temperature. In 1963, Alferov filed a patent application proposing double-heterostructure lasers; Herbert Kroemer independently filed a US patent several months later.[7][8] In 1966, Alferov's lab created the first lasers based on heterostructures, although they did not lase continuously. Then in 1968, Alferov and coworkers produced the first continuous-wave semiconductor heterojunction laser operating at room temperature.[6]: 163–167 This achievement came a month ahead of Izuo Hayashi and Morton PanishofBell Labs also producing a continuous-wave room-temperature heterojunction laser.[9]
It was for this work that Alferov received the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics together with Herbert Kroemer, "for developing semiconductor heterostructures used in high-speed- and optoelectronics".[10]
In the 1960s and 1970s Alferov continued his work on the physics and technology of semiconductor heterostructures in his lab at the Ioffe Institute. Alferov's investigations of injection properties of semiconductors and his contributions to the development of lasers, solar cells, LEDs, and epitaxy processes, led to the creation of modern heterojunction physics and electronics.[10] The development of semiconductor heterojunctions revolutionized semiconductor design, and had a range of immediate commercial applications including LEDs, barcode readers and CDs.[10]Hermann Grimmeiss of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awards Nobel prizes, said: "Without Alferov, it would not be possible to transfer all the information from satellites down to the Earth or to have so many telephone lines between cities."[11]
Alferov had an almost messianic conception of heterostructures, writing: "Many scientists have contributed to this remarkable progress, which not only determines in large measure the future prospects of solid state physics but in a certain sense affects the future of human society as well."[12]
In 1987, Alferov became the fifth director of the Ioffe Institute. In 1989, Alferov gained the administrative position of chairman of the Leningrad Scientific Center, now referred to as the St. Petersburg Scientific Center. In the Leningrad region, this scientific center is an overarching organization comprising 70 institutions, organizations, enterprises, and scientific societies.[6]: 196
Alferov worked to foster relationships between early educational institutions and scientific research institutions to train the next generation of scientists, citing Peter the Great's vision for the Russian Academy of Sciences to be organized with a scientific research core in close contact with a gymnasium (secondary school).[6]: 199 In 1987, Alferov and colleagues at the Ioffe Institute established a secondary school in Saint Petersburg, the School of Physics and Technology, under the umbrella of the Ioffe charter. In 1997 Alferov founded the Research and Education Center at the Ioffe Institute and in 2002, this center officially became the Saint Petersburg Academic University after gaining a charter to award masters and PhD degrees.
In the 2000s, through his role in academic administration and in parliament, Alferov advocated for and worked to advance Russia's nanotechnology sector. The primary research charter of the Saint Petersburg Academic University, which Alferov founded, was the development of nanotechnology. Alferov provided a consistent voice in parliament in favor of increased scientific funding. In 2006, Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov announced the creation of a federal agency, Rosnanotekh to pursue nanotechnology applications.
1st class (14 March 2005) – for outstanding contribution to the development of national science and active participation in legislative activities;[19]
3rd class (4 June 1999) – for outstanding contribution to the development of national science and training of highly qualified personnel in connection with the 275th anniversary of the Russian Academy of Sciences;[19]
4th class (15 March 2010) – for services to the state contribution to the development of national science and many years of fruitful activity[19]
State Prize of the Russian Federation (2001) in Science and Technology (5 August 2002) for his work, "Fundamental studies of the formation and properties of heterostructures with quantum dots and the creation of lasers based on them"[19]
Lenin Prize (1972) – for basic research in semiconductors and heterojunction development of new devices based on them[19]
USSR State Prize (1984) – for developing isoperiodic heterostructures based on quaternary solid solutions of A3B5 semiconductor compounds[19]
Foreign awards
Order of Francysk Skaryna (Belarus, 17 May 2001) – for his great personal contribution to the development of physical science, the organization of the Belarusian-Russian scientific and technical cooperation, strengthening the friendship between the peoples of Belarus and Russia
Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise, 5th class (Ukraine, 15 May 2003) – for personal contribution to the development of cooperation between Ukraine and the Russian Federation in the socio-economic and humanitarian spheres
Kyoto Prize (Inamori Foundation, Japan, 2001) – for success in creating semiconductor lasers operating in continuous mode at room temperature – a pioneer step in optoelectronics
Vernadsky Award (NAS, 2001)
"Russian National Olympus". The title "living legend" (Russia, 2001)
H. Welker Gold Medal (1987) – for pioneering work on the theory and technology of devices based on III-V compounds of groups
Stuart Ballantine Medal (Franklin Institute, USA, 1971) – for the theoretical and experimental studies of double-heterostructure laser, which were created by laser light sources of small size, operating in continuous mode at room temperature
Award Symposium on GaAs (1987) – for pioneering work in semiconductor heterostructures based on III-V compounds and group development of diode lasers and photodiodes
Honorary Doctor of the Russian-Armenian (Slavonic) University (State Educational Institution of the Russian-Armenian (Slavic) University, Armenia, 2011)
^Hecht, Jeff (2004). City of light : the story of fiber optics (Rev. and expanded ed.). Oxford [u.a.]: Oxford Univ. Press. pp. 151–155. ISBN9780195162554.
Zhores Alferov on Nobelprize.org including the Nobel Lecture 8 December 2000 Double Heterostructure Concept and its Applications in Physics, Electronics and Technology
