The Seventh Seminar on Quantum Optics was held on May 18 - May 20, 1998, at the Raubichi Olympic Center. A part of the reports presented at SQO-VII was published in special issues of Optics and Spectroscopy Vol. 87, No. 4, 1999, Optics and Spectroscopy Vol. 87, No. 5, 1999.

Contents of the issue:

Fundamentals of Quantum Optics

Universal Quantum Cloning
V. Buzek and M. Hillery 490
Interference without Interference: Directional Properties of Spontaneous Emission
A. Orlowski and W.Zakowicz 500
Optical Tachyons in Parametric Amplifiers: How Fast Can Quantum Information Travel?
G. Kurizki, A.E. Kozhekin, A.G.Kofman and M. Blaauboer 505
Phase-Difference between Two Quantized Harmonic Oscillators
J.Soderholm and G. Bjork 513

Measurements in Quantum Optics

Quantum-Non-Demolition Endoscopic Tomography
M.Fortunato, P.Tombesi, and B.Schleich 518
Violation of the Equivalence of Field Intensity and Photocurrent in a Feedback Loop
D.B.Horoshko and S.Ya. Kilin 523
Quantum Variation Measurements and a Heisenberg Microscope
S.P.Vyatchanin 532
Complex Data Processing in an Optomechanical Converter with Modulated Pumping
A.V.Gusev and V.V.Kulagin 541

Quantum Optics of Photonic Crystals

Light Propagation Effects in One-Dimensional, Al/MgF2 Photonic Band Gap
M.J. Bloemer and M. Scalora 545
Coherent Optics and Localized Light
V.I. Yukalov 550
Dynamics of Interaction of Ultrashort Light Pulses with Nonlinear One-Dimensional Layer Periodic Structures
A.G.Smirnov 555

Nonlinear Quantum Optics

Phase Switching Properties in Nonlinear Coupler
L.Mišta Jr., J.Rehacek, and J.Perina 561
Quantum Fluctuations in Optical Bistability with Non-Classical Drive
Y.M. Golubev and M.I.Kolobov 565
Consecutive Quasi-Synchronous Interactions in Nonlinear Optics:
New Possibilities for Generating Nonclassical Light
A.S.Chirkin 575
Quantum Fluctuations at the Output of an Optical Parametric Image Intensifier
M.I. Kolobov, L.A.Lugiato, and I.V.Sokolov 580
Method of Allowing for Dissipative Effects in Quantum Nonlinear Optical Processes
V.N. Volokhovskii and A.S. Chirkin 588
Amplification of Correlated Light Beams
V.N. Gorbachev and A.I. Trubilko 591
On The Self-Modulation of Optical Pulses in a Kerr Medium and Limits of the Single-Mode Approximation
D.Kouznetsov and E.Gomez 594
Squeezed States of Light upon Two-Photon Generation in Noninverted Atoms
V.N. Gorbachev and A.I. Trubilko 603
Suppression of Longitudinal Side Modes and Squeezing of the Radiation Noise in Quantum-Well Lasers
P.A.Usachev and A.S.Trifonov 606
Experimental Demonstration of the Phase-Difference Operator
A.Trifonov, T.Tsegaye, G.Bjork, J.Soderholm, and E.Goobar 611

Quantum Optics of Single Objects

Coupling Constant Distribution Measured for Dynamical Interaction between Probe Molecules and an Amorphous Polymer Host
E.A. Donley, T. Plakhotnik, H.Bach, and U.P.Wild 616
Spectroscopy of Single N-V-Centers in Diamond: Tunneling of a Substituting Nitrogen Atom to a Vacancy and Its Manifestations in Fluorescence Spectra
S.Ya. Kilin, A.P.Nizovtsev, T.M. Maevskaya, A.Gruber,
A. Drabenschtedt, J. Wrachtrup, and C. von Borczyskowski 624
On the Radiative Linewidth in Single Molecule Spectroscopy
I. Rebane 633
Bound Hole States and Ferrons in High-Tc Superconductors
P. Rubin and A. Sherman 637
Nonclassical States of Light in systems with Free Electrons
A.S. Il'in, V.V. Kulagin, and V.A. Cherepenin 642
New Effects in Light Scattering from Cold Atoms Trapped by Harmonic Potentials
A. Orlowski, M. Gajda, P. Krekora, R. J. Glauber, and J. Mostowski 645
Interference of Light with Localized Atomic Wave Functions
W. Vogel and S. Wallentowitz 663
Dressing Dressed States
Z. Ficek, H. S. Freedhoff, and T. G. Rudolph 670
Master Equation Approach to the Problem of Two-Level Atom in a Squeezed Vacuum
with Finite Bandwidth
R. Tanas 676
Two-Photon Transitions in the Continuum Spectrum in Mg–Rare-Gas Atom
Fractional Optical Collision
M. D. Havey, S. B. Bayram, D. A. Olsgaard, H. O. Thurman III, D. V. Kupriyanov,
I. M. Sokolov, A. V. Slavgorodskii, and A. I. Trubilko 683