Academician A. M. Prokhorov and femto – attosecond photoelectronics

High-speed photography using time-analysing image-converter tubes (ICTs) occupies a worthy place among a variety of scientific fields whose development is closely associated with the name of academician A. M. Prokhorov. It was A. M. Prokhorov who headed in our country from the mid-1960s until the first years of a new century the studies of fundamental processes underlying high-speed image-tube photography. He organised an international cooperation aimed at the development and application of the methods and means for high-speed image-tube diagnostics in laser physics. He provided the conditions for the development of competitive ICTs, diffractometers, and image-converter cameras (ICCs) and for their successful applications in quantum electronics, nonlinear and fibre optics, laser plasma physics, and controlled nuclear fusion. A new scientific field – femto – attosecond photoelectronics was initiated under his influence and is being successfully developed now.