Progress in Optics

The seven reviews articles presented in this volume cover a broad range of subjects. The first article is concerned with the use of active optics in modern, large telescopes. The second article discusses variational methods used in nonlinear fibre optics and in related fields. The article by O. Keller which follows deals with a topic of historical interest, presenting a account of researches of the Danish physicist L.V. Lorenz who in 1867 established the electrodynamic theory of light, independently of the work of James Clerk Maxwell. The fourth article is concerned with the canonical quantum description of light propagation in dielectric media. The fifth article by D. Dragoman describes the similarities and the differences between classical optics and quantum mechanics in phase space. The article by R. Boyd and D. Gauthier which follows, summarizes research on pulse propagation effects in resonant material system. The concluding article by A. Torre is concerned with the fractional Fourier transform and some of it applications in optics. It is clear that the articles in this volume cover a broad range of subjects, some of which are likely to be of interest to many scientists concerned with optical theory or with optical devices.