Fifty years of revolutions in atomic physics and quantum optics

The final lecture in the Chair of Quantum Physics (2001-2015), concluding fifteen years of lectures on quantum optics and information, reviewed the major advances in atomic physics and quantum optics over the last half-century. This period has seen profound revolutions in these fields of physics, largely due to the invention in 1960 of the laser and the developments this extraordinary source of light has undergone in the decades since. Whereas at the end of the 1950s atomic physics was considered by some to be a "finished" science, largely assimilated to classical spectroscopy in which few surprises were expected, the arrival of lasers considerably renewed the field by making light not only a probe for increasingly precise exploration of the energy levels of atoms and molecules, but also a powerful instrument for manipulating these systems, enabling them to be prepared and studied in "exotic" situations, paving the way, in various fields, for new physics. Past lectures have described some of the most important recent research. This lecture, which concludes the Chair's lectures, aims to look back over the developments that have led to the latest advances, to discuss progress in areas not covered in previous lectures, and to consider the possible future of this physics.