Scientometric investigation of the development trends of the branches of quantum electronics in 25 years

A calculation was made of the number of publications on optical-band quantum electronics from 1963 to 1987 by an analysis of the content of the Soviet abstract journal Physics. The rate of growth of the number of publications on optical-band quantum electronics increased in the late eighties, but the rates of rise of the number of publications in various branches of optical-band quantum electronics were found to differ significantly. From the late seventies the general topics in quantum electronics and theory have shown more rapid rise than laser applications. In the last 10–15 years the most rapid growth was exhibited by the subject of gas lasers, the slowest by glass lasers.