For the history of our department a formal reference point is 1978 , when as a result of the reorganization of the Department of Wave Processes in the Physics Department of Moscow State University have two new departments : General Physics and Wave Processes ( OFVP ) and our department (up to 2001 - quantum physics, in 2001 renamed the Department of Quantum Electronics).

But our research and teaching traditions date back to 1965 - 1977 years - a time when Academician RV Khokhlov at the Department of wave processes created the national school of nonlinear optics.

In 1978 - 2000 years the department was headed by Academician L. Keldysh . Since 2001, the head of the department is Prof. V. Panov . The department has 8 doctors and 14 candidates of Sci. Science. For a quarter century, the Department graduated more than 300 students and about 100 graduate students.