INTRODUCTION
The Department of Quantum Electronics was established in 1978. However, work in the field of Quantum Electronics in the Faculty of Physics started in 1966 when group of scientists in the Department of Radiophysics and Electronics built the first in Bulgaria Nd:glass laser. Presently, the Department of Quantum Electronics consists of one professor, two associated professors, five assistant professors and оне physicist. As an average, in the last years 5 to 10 students per year graduate at Bachelor and M. Sc.-level in Quantum Electronics and Laser Technique, and in Laser Physics specialties.
The Department of Quantum Electronics is in close relations with the Laboratory of Laser Technique at the Sofia University, where Laboratory of Femtosecond Photonics was established.
SOME IMPORTANT ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE FIELD OF QUANTUM ELECTRONICS AND LASER TECHNIQUE
> The first Nd:glass laser in Bulgaria - 1966
> The first picosecond laser in Bulgaria - 1972
> Bulgaria's first nitrogen laser - 1975
> The first generation of the 5-th and 7-th harmonic
of a Nd-laser in metal vapors - 1977
> First polariton and parametric-scattering spectra of
light in non-centrosymmetric media recorded in Bulgaria - 1975
> First excimer laser in Bulgaria - 1980
> First femtosecond laser operation in Bulgaria - 1986
> Proposal and practical realization of the first
dispersive cavity - 1988
> Proposal and practical realization of the
first nonlinear mirror for pulsed-laser mode-locking - 1988
> First successful experiments in Bulgaria on singular
nonlinear optics (ring dark solitary waves) - 1995
> First experimental observation and theoretical model
of dark beams with mixed type spatial phase dislocations - 1999
> Proposal and practical realization of femtosecond pulse
cleaning technique - 2002
> First generation of phase dislocations (optical vortices)
in femtosecond laser fields - 2004
> First sub-30-fs laser oscillator developed in Bulgaria - 2006
2024-05-10