In 1967 he defended a PhD thesis on the topic "Diffracting beams in nonlinear media" under the supervision of academician R. V. Khokhlov.

P. Sukhorukov has made fundamental contributions to the development of the theory of waves and nonlinear interactions in optics, radiophysics, and acoustics.

Among his many achievements, the results discussed here were most valued by the scientist, as being most important and influential for the subsequent development of corresponding research fields.

He has developed a spatio-temporal analogy between optical beams and pulses, and predicted the effect of diffraction-dispersion incoherence for modulated waves, which limits the efficiency of frequency conversion and results in parametric mutual focusing in quadratic media.

He has also predicted the phenomenon of anomalous diffraction in the parametric amplifier, and determined the optimal conditions for high-efficiency generation of the second and third harmonics in focused laser beams.

He has first investigated the possibility of total energy conversion in the process of double phase-matched interaction between three frequency harmonics.

Scientific school created by A. P. Sukhorukov on the topic of "Physics of wave interactions in inhomogeneous and nonlinear media" is building on traditions established at Lomonosov Moscow State University by academician R. V. Khokhlov.