About the Institute

Physics research within the Moldavian Branch of the Academy of Sciences of the former USSR traces its origins to the Department of Physics and Mathematics (established in 1957 under the leadership of T. Malinowski, later an academician of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova (ASM)), and to the Laboratory of Physics and Chemistry of Semiconductors (established in 1960 under the leadership of S. Rădăuțan, who also later became an academician of the ASM).

Technical sciences developed within the Division of Agricultural Electrification (established in 1955 as part of the Moldavian Branch of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, with Dr. N. Romanenko as its first director). This division was later transformed into the Department of Power Engineering Cybernetics (established in 1958 and headed by G. Chaly, who later became a corresponding member of the ASM). After the establishment of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, this department served as the basis for the creation of the Institute of Power Engineering and Automation in 1961, headed by Academician B. Lazarenko. In 1963, this institute was reorganized into the Institute for Electrophysical Problems.

The Institute of Applied Physics (IAP) was founded in 1964 through the merger of the physics laboratories of the Institute of Physics and Mathematics with the technical laboratories of the Institute for Electrophysical Problems. Its first director was Academician Boris Lazarenko, laureate of the USSR State Prize, Vice President of the ASM, and founder of both the ASM Experimental Plant and the Specialized Bureau of Design and Technology in Solid-State Electronics. During the 1970s and 1980s, the Experimental Plant held a monopoly within the Soviet Union in the field of electrical discharge machining systems, an area developed exclusively by the IAP at that time.

In the 1990s, several departments of the Institute joined together to form two independent research centres:

• the Centre - International Laboratory of Superconductivity and Solid State Electronics
• the Centre of Optoelectronics,

that together with the IAP (which included the Materials Science Centre, the Electrophysical Studies Centre, and the Theoretical Physics Centre), as well as the Specialized Bureau of Design and Technology in Solid-State Electronics, represented the physical and technical research profile of the ASM.

In 2006, the Centre of Optoelectronics and two laboratories from the Centre – International Laboratory of Superconductivity and Solid-State Electronics were reintegrated into the IAP.

Since 2018, the Institute of Applied Physics has operated under a new governing body, having moved from the jurisdiction of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova to the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research of the Republic of Moldova. Since 2021, it has been under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education and Research.

Since 2023, the Institute of Applied Physics has been part of the State University of Moldova.

For more than 60 years, the Institute of Applied Physics has made a significant contribution to the development of science and culture in the Republic of Moldova. The Institute is well known within the international scientific community for both its fundamental and applied research. Since its establishment, several scientific schools have been formed in fields such as Crystallography (Acad. T. Malinowski), Electrochemistry (Acad. Yu. Petrov), Physics of Semiconducting Materials (Acad. S. Rădăuțan), Kinetical Physics (Acad. V. Kowarsky), Physics of Noncrystalline Materials (Acad. A. Andrieș), Solid-State Theory and Nuclear Physics (Acad. S. Moskalenko and Acad. V. Moskalenko), Heat and Mass Transfer Intensification (Acad. M. Bologa), II–VI Semiconductor Materials and Heterojunctions based on them (Acad. A. Simashkevich), and the Electrophysical and Electrochemical Methods for Materials Processing (Corr. Mem. A. Dukusar). Today the Institute is proud to include also Acad. L. Kulyiuk - an authority in investigations of laser spectroscopy and semiconductor physics, and Acad. E.Arushanov - an authority in investigations of semiconducting materials for photovoltaics.

The main research areas of the Institute are:

• Fundamental and applied research into physics and physico-chemistry of condensed matter: crystalline, noncrystalline and nanostructured materials, of atoms and nuclei; electronics and quantum optics, design of high technologies and multifunctional electronic, optoelectronic and photonic devices.
• Fundamental and experimental research into using electricity as a catalyst in heat and mass transfer, in cavitation, in electro-floatation and electro-plasmolysis; modification of surfaces of materials by electro-physical and electrochemical methods; development of high technologies and up-to-date techniques.
• Theoretical study of quantum technologies in artificial or real atomic and opto/nanomechanical systems, respectively, the investigation of quantum coherence or quantum interference, quantum inseparability and control of quantum dissipasions.

Scientific potential (as of 01.01.2026):

The Institute currently employs 217 staff members, including 153 researchers, 5 full members of the ASM, 1 corresponding member of the ASM, 19 holders of the Doctor of Science degree, 82 PhD holders, and 53 young scientists under the age of 35.