The 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics has gone to Roy J. Glauber, John L. Hall and Theodor W. Hänsch for their work on quantum optics. In particular, Glauber gets half the prize "for his contribution to the quantum theory of optical coherence," while Hall and Hänsch split the other half "for their contributions to the development of laser-based precision spectroscopy, including the optical frequency comb technique." I figure it's our duty to tell you that, although I'll be the first to admit that I'm not an expert on quantum optics or lasers. Sounds like a worthy prize, though. In the meantime, you can become an expert yourself by playing this laser game.
It's hard. And that's just classical geometric optics! Just imagine how tricky quantum optics must be.
