About the department
The Department of Optics was founded in 1939 at what is now Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. Over more than eight decades it has trained around 1,500 graduates and has grown into one of the principal centres of optical research in Ukraine.
History
The department was established in 1939 by Oleksandr Shyshlovskyi, who headed it until 1975 — thirty-six years that defined its experimental profile and its focus on the spectroscopy of condensed matter.
From 1975 to 1993 the department was led by Mykhailo Bilyi, who was also Rector of the University from 1970 to 1985; from 1993 to 1999 by Ihor Shaikevych; from 1999 to 2023 by Leonid Poperenko; and from 2023 to 2025 by Serhii Kondratenko. Since 2025 the department has been headed by Kateryna Yablochkova. Two research schools formed during this period, and both remain visible in the department’s present work on optical materials and semiconductor optics.
What the department has produced
- 1,500+ graduates — among them two full members and four corresponding members of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
- 40 doctors of science and around 140 candidates of science (PhD equivalent) trained at the department.
- 14 state prizes awarded to members and graduates of the department.
- Two research schools founded in the second half of the twentieth century; their subject matter still describes the greater part of the department’s work.
The department today
The department runs two degree programmes — a bachelor’s programme in Optics and a master’s programme in Optics. Laser Physics — and supervises doctoral candidates within the Faculty of Physics graduate school. As of February 2026 the academic staff numbers seven: three doctors of sciences and four candidates of sciences.
Six research laboratories and one teaching laboratory are in continuous use. The heaviest instrumentation sits in the University’s shared-access centre for microscopy and laser spectroscopy, in operation since 2025: electron microscopy, confocal Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, spectroscopic ellipsometry and thin-film deposition.
The department organises the International Symposium on Photonics and Optics (SPO); twenty-six symposia have been held, and the twenty-seventh takes place from 28 September to 3 October 2026.