"It is widely appreciated that the most advanced future technologies will exploit the laws of quantum physics. The development of such technologies, in particular the controlled generation, manipulation and characterisation of quantum states and entanglement, poses tremendous challenges, which just a few years ago have been considered nearly impossible to meet.The main objective of this project is to initiate state-of-the-art research in Bulgaria on the development of quantum networks, which are an essential part of future quantum technologies. The work will be conducted in close collaboration with several leading research groups from Oxford, Dijon and Turku. The general aim of the research program is the comprehensive understanding of the potentials and limitations of quantum state manipulation of matter using light and quantum light-matter interfaces. The research plan is focused on the following main directions: (1) optimisation of the efficiency of cavity based photon-generation schemes, (2) optimisation of the efficiency of quantum optical information storage, (3) decoherence and dephasing mechanisms in N-state systems, (4) dephasing upon adiabaticity in simple quantum systems, (5) adiabatic and superadiabatic analytic methods and (6) analytic factorisation methods and applications to coherent quantum control."