The department was established in 1975. It was headed until 1999 by Doctor of Science, professor Grygoriy Plyatsko. For complex research on the development of optimal thermal conditions of the local welded joints of the shell structures of special type he was awarded the State Prize of Ukraine in Science and technology. Since 1975 H.V.Plyatsko led targeted research under joint work program between the Ministry of engineering and the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in the field of hydroacoustics. Prof. H.V.Plyatsko from 1985 to 1990 was member of the working group commissioned by the Ministry of Aviation industry doing research and calculations on freezing and heating modes in wind tunnel, as well as calculations of the strength of its nodes. H.V.Plyatsko was also the coordinator of analytical and experimental studies of the formation and propagation of acoustic signals in elastic objects that were conducted on order of the Ministry of engineering. From 1999 to 2014 the Head of the Department was Doctor of Science Kyyak Stepan Grygorovych. In 2014 Doctor of Science Popovych Dmytro Ivanovych was elected as the head of the department.

The department for 40 years is engaged in the development of laser methods of obtaining and modifying the structure and properties of thin layers and nanopowder solid materials. During this time over 400 scientific papers were published and department received 20 patents for inventions and eight patents of Ukraine.

Major areas of research:

• pulse laser annealing of metals and alloys and removal of mechanical stresses from the weld joints (Plyatsko G.V., Zhyrovetskyy V.M., Moisa M.I.);
• distribution and reflection of acoustic waves from the model and natural objects in the marine environment (Plyatsko G.V., Torskyy A.R., Demchuk V.I., Vus B.S., Zhyrovetskyy V.M.);
• thermodynamical nonequilibrium processes, and conditions in the semiconductor phototronic glass to create on their basis control sets for parameters of laser radiation (Plyatsko G.V., Kotlyarchuk B.K.);
• phase and concentration instabilities caused by powerful laser radiation and electric field in vanadium oxides to develop optically controlled threshold keys of cryo- and optoelectronics (Plyatsko G.V., Kotlyarchuk B.K.);
• the influence of powerful laser and ion flows on processes of defects formation, structural transformation and modification of electrical properties of semiconductor materials to develop new beam technologies of forming functional elements of micro and optoelectronics (S.H. Kyyak, O.Yu. Bonchyk, H.V. Savytskyy);
• processes of structure froming of materials under nonequilibrium formation of surface layers of compounds and composites; study of their mechanisms of corrosion and wear; development of materials and methods of coating with improved performance properties (H.V.Pohmurska);

• computer algorithms for process control of modification of material properties and equipment for measurement of their functional parameters (H.V.Savytskyy);

• the interplay of powerful laser radiation and physical and mechanical fields of different nature on defect formation processes, structural transformations and modification of the electrical properties of semiconductor band-narrow materials to develop new beam technologies of forming functional elements of infrared optoelectronics (B.K. Kotlyarchuk, Zaginey A.O.);
• gas-dynamic processes of forming and transfer of laser erosion plasma of multicomponent compounds of  cadmium chalcogenides and chalcogenides of mercury and metal oxides in chemically active space. Study of epitaxy and structure forming of thin films of these compounds from the laser plasma in autonomous quasi closed reactive space (Kotlyarchuk B.K., D.I. Popovych, Pyontko V.J.);
• processes of formation of thin layers of oxide and nitride luminophore materials with laser erosion plasma in reactive quasi closed space and study their structure and properties (D.I. Popovych, V.K. Savchuk, Serednytskyy A.S.);
• processes of formation of  nanopowder oxide materials and their structure and properties for use in gas sensing systems (D.I. Popovych, Serednytskyy A.S.);
• mathematical modeling of structure formation and electronic properties of oxide nanoclusters materials by density functional theory (D.I. Popovych, Bovgyra R.V.).

G.V. Plyatsko discusses with his co-workers V.M. Maksymovych, S.V. Novosad and B.K. Kotlyarchuk the results of experiment (1976)
 

The most important results from the development of physical principles and methods of material modification by laser and ion flows include:

• Formed basic ideas and set patterns of occurrence of nonequilibrium physical processes:

  • forming temperature fields in the area of light and ion fluxes, topography of irradiated materials, profiles of impurity distribution in depth modified layers, and periodic dissipative structures in nonequilibrium conditions of intense light excitation;
  • segregation of impurities and dry cleaning of the surface of semiconductors and dielectrics;
  • gettering and controlled introduction of defects;
  • changes in the structure and component composition of protective and renewable coatings.

• Designed and developed multi-purpose laser technological complex, to implement new technological processes:

  • manufacturing doped semiconductor layers submicron thicknesses with desired properties;
  • fast laser and photonic annealing of ion-implanted layers;
  • the formation of highly efficient and renewable protective coatings for the restoration of the details with complex geometric shapes.

Scientific research results related to the modification of the laser thermal-sprayed coatings introduced at the State Enterprise "Gasotermik" to enhance the durability of parts of hydraulic transport equipment. Recommendations for improving the durability of aluminum alloys adopted for practical implementation ASTC "Antonov" and are promising for wider use in other industries.

For a series of scientific papers "Development, research and implementation of  electrometalized restorative and protective coatings" in 2008 writing team, which included H.V.Pohmurska, was awarded the prize of Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

The department received such international grants:

STCU Grants №590, №613, №1709, №3623, №5032.

By the subjects of research studies the department has established scientific contacts with the Institute of the fundamental problems of technology in Warsaw and the Institute of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering in Krakow of the Polish Academy of Sciences; educational and research center of microelectronics and nanotechnology in Rzeszow (Poland); Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium), Federal State budget educational institution of higher education "National Research Tomsk State University" (Russia), scientific-production enterprise "Karat" in Lviv.

According to the research of major scientific areas of the department there were presented and defended four doctoral thesis (H.V. Plyatsko, S.H. Kyyak, V.V.Hafiychuk, H.V.Pohmurska) and thirteen PhD theses (V.M. Maksymovych, Ye.V. Novosad, B.K. Kotlyarchuk, O.O. Chabanenko, H.V. Savytskyy, O.Yu. Bonchyk, B.S. Vus, V.I. Demchuk, D.I. Popovych, A.O. Zahiney, V.K. Savchuk,    R. I. Lesyuk, A.S. Serednytskyy).