In the thirty-seven years that have gone by since the first volume of Progress
in Optics was published, optics has become one of the most dynamic fields of
science. At the time of inception of this series, the first lasers were only
just becoming operational, holography was in its infancy, subjects such as fiber
optics, integrated optics and optoelectronics did not exist and quantum optics
was the domain of only a few physicists. The term photonics had not yet been
coined. Today these fields are flourishing and have become areas of
specialisation for many science and engineering students and numerous research
workers and engineers throughout the world.