Based on a course offered at Moscow State University, this text comprehensively presents the fundamentals of modern physical optics. The concepts of classical and quantum radiation theories, nonlinear physics, statistics, and Fourier transformations are shown to form the bedrock of modern optics and optical physics. Subjects include lasers, nonlinear optics, optical spectroscopy, and optical fields. The material is much more topical than that in conventional textbooks, and it provides a picture of physical optics as an expert would see it, but in a form accessible to a student.