Prokhorov General Physics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (GPI RAS) was organized in 1982 on the basis of Division A of the Lebedev Physical Institute, USSR Academy of Sciences, by Academician Aleksandr Mikhailovich Prokhorov. He became the first director of the new institute. Since 1998, the General Physics Institute has been headed by Academician of RAS Ivan Aleksandrovich Shcherbakov. In 2002, the institute was named after Academician A.M. Prokhorov.

The main directions of research at the institute are as follows:

Currently, the institute includes 15 scientific departments; 2 research centers (Natural Sciences Center (NSC), Research Center for Laser Materials and Technologies (RCLMT) and 3 branches: Wave Research Center (WRC), Physics Instrumentation Center (PIC) and Tarusa Department of GPI RAS).

The Fiber Optics Research Center, ex-department of the institute, became an independent organization in 2007.

On June 1, 2012, the Institute staff were 772 persons, including 468 researchers, 3 academicians of RAS (F.V. Bunkin, V.V. Osiko and I.A. Shcherbakov), 3 corresponding members of RAS ( N.V. Karlov, V.I. Konov, P.P. Pashinin), 97 doctors of sciences, 250 candidates of sciences, and 45 post-graduates and doctorants.
There are three doctoral dissertation councils at the institute on the following qualifications: acoustics, laser physics, condensed matter physics, theoretical physics, plasma physics, semiconductor technology and equipment, electronic materials and devices.

The General Physics Institute includes also four base chairs of the leading Russian institutions of higher education: two chairs of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology; two chairs of the Moscow State Institute of Radio Engineering, Electronics, and Automation; and the Teaching Research Center of Promising Materials and Technologies (based on RCLMT GPI RAS and the Chairs of Chemistry and Technology of Crystals, Technology of Glass and Pyrocerams, Technology of Ceramics and Refractory Materials, and Problems of Stable Development of the Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology).

The institute cooperates with research organizations of 15 countries within the bilateral and interacademic conventions. Joint laboratories with scientific institutions of Canada, Italy, and France have been organized. Up to 300 foreign researchers and experts visit the institute every year.
The institute has experimental facilities making it possible to perform fundamental and applied investigations in different fields of physics. The results of these investigations led in many cases to the development and practical realization of various devices for industry, medicine, and ecology, which have no analogs in the Russian and foreign instrument making.

Research Center for Laser Materials and Technologies, RCLMT GPI RAS

Natural Sciences Center, NSC GPI RAS