‘Our dreams take us to the stars’: Viacheslav “Slava” Artyushenko, a pioneering figure in the field of fiber optics and President of art photonics GmbH

Viacheslav "Slava" (meaning "glory" in all Slavic languages) Artyushenko, Founder and President of art photonics GmbH, traveled from Moscow to West Berlin in 1986, "destroying the political wall of troubles" through a scientific collaboration between GPI (General Physics Institute) and the Laser Medicine Center in West Berlin, three years before the Berlin Wall was demolished in November 1989. During the "perestroika" period of 1988–1989, he organized the first Soviet Chapter of the SPIE (Society of Photo-Instrument Engineering) and the SPIE Conference on Lasers and Medicine in Tashkent, the first SPIE event in the USSR. Viacheslav Artyushenko received the moniker "icebreaker" as a result of his actions and the pioneering invention of mid-infrared fiber optics.

Viacheslav Artyushenko's extensive research experience in fiber optics led to the establishment of art photonics GmbH, an optic fiber solution provider, in Berlin, Germany, in 1998.

Today, Art Photonics GmbH is a global leader in the development and production of specialty optical fiber products spanning the wavelength range of 300 nm to 16 µm. The company's products and solutions have extensive applications in the fields of laser surgery and laser technology, medical diagnostics through IR imaging and combi-spectroscopy methods, industrial process control, environmental monitoring, aerospace research, and many other areas. It is the only company in the world that provides full vertical technology for the industrial production of silver halide Polycrystalline Mid-InfraRed (PIR) fibers, and it has established itself as a technological powerhouse for mid-IR and IR optical fiber applications.

Sky is the Limit: An Inspiring Journey of an Eminent Scientist

Following his education in Stalingrad (now Volgograd), where he was born in 1954, Artyushenko enrolled at the Moscow Physical Technical Institute, where only one out of 17 candidates passed the arduous admittance exams.

Even as a student, he refused to let fate decide his fate and changed faculties to join the General Physics Institute (GPI), now known as the Prokhorov General Physics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (GPI RAS), which he describes as "the best laser nest in the Soviet Union."

Artyushenko, like other students starting a research career, wanted to discover a unique scientific challenge and be one of the first to tackle it. He considers himself fortunate to have been assigned just such a task by Prof. Alexander Prokhorov, one of three Nobel Prize winners for laser innovation, in 1976.

His life was not easy till he received his PhD in 1981. He even slept in the laser lab for about a year, but it was nonetheless a wonderful time. During those years, he made significant progress in the development of Polycrystalline Infrared Fiber technology, producing some ground-breaking achievements while competing against only a few sophisticated groups in the United States, Japan, and Israel.

He went on to become a pioneer in the physics of nanostructure formation as well as the technology of producing unique polycrystalline mid-infrared (mid-IR) fibers with spectral ranges ranging from 3 to 17 mcm. Mid-IR fibers, which are often difficult to obtain, are key components in the process of conveying mid-IR energy in spectroscopy, CO2-laser medicine, cancer spectral diagnostics, and other applications.

He judged his achievement, like most ambitious scientists, in terms of patents, pioneering articles, and speeches at international conferences, with the goal of reaching the top of his scientific area.

Artyushenko believes that challenges make people stronger. His path was formed by an ambitious desire to be the first in new areas and to pursue a different path than the easy, usual one.

art photonics GmbH’s Expert Team: Building on a Solid Foundation of Cutting-Edge Research

Artyushenko's contributions have aided in the development of speciality fiber photonics applications in a variety of market sectors, including process control in chemical, petrochemical, food, and pharmaceutical industries, laser medicine and technology, cancer diagnostics, biotechnology, environmental monitoring, space research, and others.

He and his team employ all of their skills gained since 1998 to the creation of numerous innovative fiber solutions. The most recent heavy investment by his team, with partners in Holland and Berlin, has been made since 2015 to address tough challenges such as real-time tumor margin detection with their fiber probes. Unique fiber tools have been developed as a result, enabling less invasive but more effective tumor surgery. This includes the worldwide first combi-spectral fiber probes, which provide much more accurate tissue analysis due to the synergy of complementary spectral data fusion.

For this complex research, they devised the original concept of multi-spectral fiber systems, which has been well validated and is represented in multiple pioneering publications.

This work enables the creation of novel multi-spectral fiber sensors for medical diagnostics and industrial process control, and they want to produce them as they transition from a B2B to a B2C business.

The Extensive Product Line of art photonics GmbH

Art Photonics now has the most comprehensive portfolio of specialty fibers, including their own production of Polycrystalline Mid Infrared (PIR) fibers for the 3-17m range and hollow waveguides, chalcogenide glass CIR-fibers, metal-coated silica fibers, and more IR-glass fibers in collaboration with Le Verre Fluore in Brittany, France.

All of these fibers are used in-house for the assembly of various spectroscopy probes for medical diagnostics and industrial process control, as well as for the volume fabrication of fiber cables for medical and industrial lasers and various fiber bundles. Their high-quality fiber products are developed and manufactured in accordance with ISO 9001:2015 standards for customized designs.

art photonics not only provides their knowledge and experience with customers about their products, but they also carefully study their applications to identify the best combination of performance, parameters, and cost for the work. The company provides great technical support and counseling to its customers, including product installation, training, troubleshooting, and so on.

In addition, art photonics invests in multiple R&D initiatives with numerous EU and national German partners. Some of these initiatives have been funded by the EU-Eurostar Program (RaSure) and the ESA's DARWIN Program. In addition, they got a German Business Award for being the global leader in Mid IR-fiber optics by 2020.

Despite modest four million euro revenue, art photonics' clientele today include prestigious firms such as ABB, Bruker, BASF, Bayer, MTAC, Coherent, Pfizer, Infineum, Jenoptik, Thermo Scientific, Chemours, Siemens, TNO, and others.

Artyushenko is proud of his scientific accomplishments in the field of mid-IR fiber optics, where he is widely recognized as a pioneer and has been invited to numerous scientific conferences. He believes he has had a stronger impact in this area during the last 40 years.

Reaching for the Stars through Aspirations, Determination, and Grit

Artyushenko expects to find more time for research as art photonics expands with new leaders and collaborators and discovers new markets, customers, and partners to help their firm flourish. His ambition is to make his company a world leader in fiber optics by developing innovative technical solutions that will be ahead of any existing fiber solutions today and in high demand in the future.

“I'll gladly share my knowledge; it's time to reload the matrix! I agree with my friends who say I'm an icebreaker. Even if this is the future technology, no amount of ice should be able to stop recent technological progress,” he says. “Per aspera ad astra (our dreams take us to the stars)”, says Viacheslav ''Slava'' Artyushenko.

Artyushenko feels that everyone has their own definition of success, and that the fact that art photonics presently has no competitors for such a broad spectrum fiber portfolio is a success that signifies far more to the market than just published papers.

“Everyone has their own definition of success, and that the fact that art photonics GmbH presently has no competitors for such a broad spectrum fiber portfolio is a success that signifies far more to the market than just published papers.”

“I believe that challenges make people stronger. My path was formed by an ambitious desire to be the first in new areas and to pursue a different path than the easy, usual one.”