Teach a scientist: digital holography and tomograph for archaeologists

The IV Congress of Young Scientists, which became the largest in the history of the event, ended at Sirius. 50 leading Russian universities, companies and research centers presented their developments. Among them were devices for digital holography, a research tomograph for analyzing archaeological finds and even a digital mock-up of the cabin of a promising supersonic domestic passenger aircraft. The congress also included popular science lectures and seminars for scientists.

Congress results

On November 29, the IV Congress of Young Scientists (CYS) ended at the Sirius University of Science and Technology. It was a record-breaking event in terms of the number of events, more than 200 of which took place. And also by the number of participants. This year more than 7 thousand people attended the CMU. According to the organizers, this is the largest event of this kind in our country. 50 largest domestic universities, companies and research centers showed their developments.

Among the most interesting exhibits of the exhibition is a system for real-time digital holography and interferometry created at Skoltech. It is suitable both for fundamental research in optics and for various practical applications. For example, the device can be used to create optical tweezers - tools for manipulating microscopic objects. And also to modify atmospheric optical communication lines or to measure distances to various objects, which are needed for the functioning of lidars.

- We originally developed this hardware-software complex for the needs of our laboratory. It is constantly being refined and modified according to new scientific tasks. About a year ago, we discovered that our colleagues from related scientific fields would also like to have a similar system in their laboratories, customized to solve their problems. Therefore, we created a sample demonstrating in real time the capabilities of our system to attract potential scientific and industrial partners, - said Kirill Sitnik, a young scientist, junior researcher at the Laboratory of Hybrid Photonics "Skoltech".

System for digital holography

Photo: Izvestia/Denis Gritsenko

All three days of the congress the attention of scientists was attracted by the stand of the project "Our Lab". The initiative was launched in 2022 to import substitution of laboratory equipment, which is needed by almost all researchers. Now the project participants create devices that are not only as good as imported ones, but often surpass them.

- One of the first unique Russian tomographs with modern software for three-dimensional analysis is presented at our stand . It is already used for industrial diagnostics and 3D visualization of various systems. The device can see through any object and show what it consists of. This is very important for defectoscopy, biology, archeology," Olga Tarasova, co-author of the project, told Izvestia.

Another development at the Nasha Lab stand was presented by the Central Design and Technology Institute. It is involved in the creation of the Siberian ring photon source (SKIF). This is a megasciences-class research facility.

- We present our digital solutions that we use in our work. This is a virtual reality helmet and augmented reality glasses. The technology allows a digital object to be seen on the construction site. This allows the builder to see how well what is being built matches the design, and to always have access to drawings. The development can be applied at any construction site," Ivan Garyaev, head of the OMSCPC direction of the Central Design and Technology Institute JSC, told Izvestia.

Photo: Izvestia/Denis Gritsenko

At the joint exposition of NCMU "Supersonic" and the Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute, the participants of the event had an opportunity to test their skills in controlling a supersonic passenger airplane, which is currently being developed in Russia. The engineers presented at the congress a mock-up of a pilot stand - an analog of a real installation, on which TsAGI has recently started to conduct experiments. The peculiarity of the cabin of a supersonic airliner is that its design does not provide for the installation of glazing, and the pilot monitors the situation with the help of cameras.

- A full-fledged stand is made on the basis of an industrial manipulator with a lifting capacity of 1300 kg, on which the cabin is installed. The pilot sits in it. It is a tool to link the engineer and the flight crew to develop the control system of the airplane. The engineer develops it, and before we start implementing the solution on a real airliner, we "run it" on a test bench with test pilots. They will then have to use the system in real conditions," Yuri Arkhangelsky, a young scientist and researcher at TsAGI, told Izvestia.

Supersonic airplane

Photo: Izvestia/Denis Gritsenko

It is important for designers to work out the algorithms of the airplane control system, which can vary greatly. For example, when flying at high speed, the airplane is not stable, so it must be corrected, this task can be entrusted to the pilot or done automatically. It is planned to complete the development of the Russian supersonic passenger airliner in the 2030s, the specialist added.

Advanced achievements

As in previous years' events, the Congress of Young Scientists included a "School" of the Russian Science Foundation. of the Russian Science Foundation. This year it was attended by more than 400 young grantees only. The management and members of expert councils summed up the results of the decade since the founding of the organization, talked about the tasks and features of scientific expertise, the mechanics of selection and support of applied projects, as well as building communication between the scientific community and the public.

Everyone could visit the interactive exposition, where multimedia projects were presented : virtual tours of scientific laboratories, educational portals, the Foundation's anniversary book and magazine. Here successful young scientists gave popular science lectures and talked about their work.

- An art object - a large panel with photos - was installed at our stand. Each participant can take a snapshot and place it on the installation, thus leaving his or her mark in the history of the Congress," said Andrei Blinov, Deputy Director General of the RNF.

Photo: Roscongress/Denis Yuntsev

The Moscow Polytechnic Museum also took an active part in the Congress of Young Scientists with the "Large Audience" project. This unique event brought together thousands of participants of different ages.

- For all guests of the Congress we prepared a rich program of lectures "Popularizers of science: the best scientific and educational practices". They were conducted by talented young scientists from different parts of Russia, who passed the selection of the All-Russian competition "Lecturer "Big Audience", which involved both individual and collective projects, - told "Izvestia" advisor to the General Director of the Polytechnic Museum Ekaterina Lycheva.

The listeners were introduced to advanced achievements in medicine, humanitarian research, application of robotics in educational processes and popularization of scientific projects, as well as the latest discoveries in physics and other scientific disciplines, the museum worker added.