CRUCIAL PROBLEMS OF PHYSICAL OPTICS

The Seventh International Conference on Fundamental Problems of Optics—FPO-2012—was held from October 15 to 19, 2012 in St. Petersburg. The National Research University of Information Technologies, Mechanics, and Optics (NIU ITMO) acted as the main organizer of the conference, which was held with the participation of the of D. S. Rozhdestvenskiı˘ Optical Society (OOR), the S. I. Vavilov State Optical Institute Scientific Production Corporation (GOI), the M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU), and other organizations.
The goal of the conference traditionally has been to familiarize experienced researchers, as well as students, bachelor’s and master’s degree holders, and graduate students both in Russia and from countries near and far, with the main achievements and development trends of optics and spectroscopy, photonics, and optoinformatics, and innovation in optical science and engineering. The main sections at the conference were as follows: “Coherent processes of the interaction of light with matter,” “Quantum optics and fundamental spectroscopy,” and “Optical materials for photonics,” which included three-quarters of all the presented reports. Other sections were “New principles of optical transmission, processing, and storage of information;” “The Optics of femto and attosecond pulses;” “Optics for biology and medicine;” a seminar on “Terahertz optics and spectroscopy;” an international scientific youth school on “Terahertz applications;” and “Holography in photonics and optoinformatics.” In all, more than 500 scientists participated in the work of the conference; about 350 oral and poster reports and more than eighty invited reports were delivered at the sessions. It should be pointed out that more than 75% of the participants were young scientists.
Some of the most interesting reports delivered at the conference are presented in this topical issue. The reader can become acquainted in more detail with the program and materials of the last conference at Fundamenatal Problems of Optics—2012 on the site http://conf‑bpo.ifmo.ru, which will be opened in May 2014. The Eighth International Conference on Fundamental Problems of Optics—2014 will be held in St. Petersburg in 2014.