The second International Conference on Trends in Quantum Electron- ics (TQE'85) was held in Bucharest at the National Centre for Physics in September 1985, and brought together more than 350 scientists from 22 countries. In accordance with the objectives established at the first confer- ence, which was held in 1982 in conjunction with the third Interna- tional Summer School in Coherent Optics, the second conference con- centrated upon the central topics and chief directions of develop- ment in quantum electronics - which stands out as an area of science and technology that is currently...