Quantum theory of coherence and nonlinear optics

Abstract

We review the beginning stage of quantum theory of coherence and research performed at the Palacký University in quantum and nonlinear optics related to quantum state reconstruction, generalized superposition of signal and quantum noise, quantum Zeno effect, nonlinear optical couplers and parametric down-conversion.

50th anniversary of the laser

“…At the end of his life, Maiman went to Vancouver in Canada and Andrew H. Rawicz gives his testimoniancy of his friendship there [4]. Coherence and the statistical properties of laser light were much studied and we have two exceptional papers by Roy Pike [5] and Jan Perina [6] discussing these arguments. The issue also contains three more papers presenting some earlier achievements in the construction of multiquantumwell laser (M. L. Dotor, P. Huertas, P. A. Postigo, D. Golmayo and F. Briones) [7], the first measurements on very short pulses (H. P. Weber and R. Dändliker) [8] and spatial coherence (D. P. Barato and M. L. Calvo) [9].…”