This review is the updated and enlarged version of a talk delivered by J. S. on the occasion of the 1982 meeting of Nobel laureates at Lindau, and of talks given by B.-G. E. at several West German universities and Max Planck institutes in 1984.
Mažena Mackoit-Sinkevičienė is a researcher at the Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astronomy, Vilnius University, Lithuania. Working in quantum optics and technology, with a focus on quantum emission from point defects in solid-state platforms, and non-classical spin states in ultracold atomic gases, she is a co-author of Lithuania’s National Quantum Guidelines and vicepresident of the Lithuanian Physical Society. Mackoit-Sinkevičienė has received several awards, including the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting Alumnus distinction and the Lithuanian Government Award. Most recently, she won the 2025 Baltic Women in Science Fellowship awarded by the Baltic National Academies of Sciences and UNESCO National Commissions.
Serge Haroche, Chair in Quantum Physics at the College de France. Professor Haroche was awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize for Physics for "groundbreaking experimental methods that enable measuring and manipulation of individual quantum systems". On 22 April 2013, the first day of the Berge Fest Conference, Professor Haroche delivered a talk on "Controlling photons in cavities". He reviewed recent experiments in Cavity QED in which his group count trapped microwave photons non-destructively and used quantum feedback methods to stabilize the photon number to a preset value. Further developments of these experiments were also discussed in his talk. The editorial team of Asia Pacific Physics Newsletter interviewed Professor Haroche during the Berge Fest Conference on 24 April 2014. For more information of the Berge Fest Conference, please visit http://bergefest.quantumlah.org/