Since the advent of the laser about 40 years ago, the fields of laser physics and quantum optics have evolved into a major disciplines. The early studies included optical coherence theory and semiclassical and quantum mechanical theories of the laser. More recently many new and interesting effects have been predicted. These include the role of coherent atomic effects in lasing without inversion and electromagnetically induced transparency, atom optics, laser cooling and trapping, teleportation, the single-atom micromaser and its role in quantum measurement theory, to name a few. The...