This book provides an introduction to quantum optics for experimental physicists and for college students who have studied quantum mechanics. Its distinguishing feature is its emphasis on multimode fields with correlating different-frequency modes, notably on their phenomenological description and on the practical methods of generating them. The phenomena described in this book provide an opportunity to study nonrelativistic quantum electrodynamics and to master many important concepts of theoretical physics.
This book provides an introduction to quantum optics for experimental physicists and for college students who have studied quantum mechanics. Its distinguishing feature is its emphasis on multimode fields with correlating different-frequency modes, notably on their phenomenological description and on the practical methods of generating them. The phenomena described in this book provide an opportunity to study nonrelativistic quantum electrodynamics and to master many important concepts of theoretical physics.
The book embraces a wide spectrum of problems falling under the concepts of "Quantum optics" and "Laser experiments". These actively developing branches of physics are of great significance both for theoretical understanding of the quantum nature of optical phenomena and for practical applications. The book includes theoretical contributions devoted to such problems as providing a general approach to describe electromagnetic field states with correlation functions of different nature, nonclassical properties of some superpositions of field states in time-varying media, photon localization, mathematical apparatus that is necessary for field state reconstruction on the basis of restricted set of observables, and quantum electrodynamics processes in strong fields provided by pulsed laser beams. Experimental contributions are presented in chapters about some quantum optics processes in photonic crystals - media with spatially modulated dielectric properties - and chapters dealing with the formation of cloud of cold atoms in magneto optical trap. All chapters provide the necessary basic knowledge of the phenomena under discussion and well-explained mathematical calculations.
This book offers a complete revision for its introduction to the quantum theory of light, including notable developments as well as improvements in presentation of basic theory and concepts, with continued emphasis on experimental aspects. The author provides a thorough overview on basic methods of classical and quantum mechanical measurements in quantum optics, enabling readers to analyze, summarize, and resolve quantum optical problems. The broad coverage of concepts and tools and its practical, experimental emphasis set it apart from other available resources. New discussions of timely topics such as the concept of the photon and distinguishability bring the entire contents up to date. Key Features: Provides a complete update of a classic textbook for the field. Features many new topics, including optical coherence, coherent and incoherent imaging, turbulence-free interferometry. Includes new chapters for intensity fluctuation correlation and thermal light ghost imaging, and biphoton imaging. Offers a complete overhaul of the introductory theory to give a more coherent and thorough treatment. Expands on discussions of optical tests of quantum theory, Popper’s experiment, Einstein’s locality questions, and the delayed choice quantum eraser.
Scope and aims of this book Quantum optics is one of the liveliest fields in physics at present. While it has been a dominant research field for at least two decades, with much graduate activity, in the past few years it has started to impact the undergraduate curriculum. This book developed from courses we have taught to final year undergraduates and beginning graduate students at Imperial College London and City University of New York. There are plenty of good research monographs in this field, but we felt that there was a genuine need for a straightforward account for senior undergraduates and beginning postgraduates, which stresses basic concepts. This is a field which attracts the brightest students at present, in part because of the extraordinary progress in the field (e.g. the implementation of teleportation, quantum cryptography, Schrödinger cat states, Bell violations of local realism and the like). We hope that this book provides an accessible introduction to this exciting subject. Our aim was to write an elementary book on the essentials of quantum optics directed to an audience of upper-level undergraduates, assumed to have suffered through a course in quantum mechanics, and for first-or second-year graduate students interested in eventually pursuing research in this area. The material we introduce is not simple, and will be a challenge for undergraduates and beginning graduate students, but we have tried to use the most straightforward approaches. Nevertheless, there are parts of the text that the reader will find more challenging than others.
This book provides an elementary introduction to the subject of quantum optics, the study of the quantum mechanical nature of light and its interaction with matter. The presentation is almost entirely concerned with the quantized electromagnetic field. Topics covered include single-mode field quantization in a cavity, quantization of multimode fields, quantum phase, coherent states, quasi-probability distribution in phase space, atom-field interactions, the Jaynes-Cummings model, quantum coherence theory, beam splitters and interferometers, dissipative interactions, nonclassical field states with squeezing etc., 'Schrödinger cat' states, tests of local realism with entangled photons from down-conversion, experimental realizations of cavity quantum electrodynamics, trapped ions, decoherence, and some applications to quantum information processing, particularly quantum cryptography. The book contains many homework problems and an extensive bibliography. This text is designed for upper-level undergraduates taking courses in quantum optics who have already taken a course in quantum mechanics, and for first and second year graduate students.
Atomic, molecular and optical physics is a field which, during the last few decades, has known spectacular developments in various directions, like nonlinear optics, laser cooling and trapping, quantum degenerate gases, quantum information. Atom–photon interactions play an essential role in these developments. This book presents an introduction to quantum optics which, I am sure, will provide an invaluable help to the students, researchers and engineers who are beginning to work in these fields and who want to become familiar with the basic concepts underlying electromagnetic interactions. Most books dealing with these subjects follow either a semi-classical approach, where the field is treated as a classical field interacting with quantum particles, or a full quantum approach where both systems are quantized. The first approach is often oversimplified and fails to describe correctly new situations that can now be investigated with the development of sophisticated experimental techniques. The second approach is often too difficult for beginners and lacks simple physical pictures, very useful for an initial understanding of a physical phenomenon. The advantage of this book is that it gives both approaches, starting with the first, illustrated by several simple examples, and introducing progressively the second, clearly showing why it is essential for the understanding of certain phenomena. The authors also clearly demonstrate, in the case of non-linear optics and laser cooling, how advantageous it may be to combine both approaches in the analysis of an experimental situation and how one can get from each point of view useful, complementary physical insights.
This textbook provides a physical understanding of what photons are and of their properties and applications. Special emphasis is made in the text to entangled photon pairs which exhibit quantum mechanical correlations over manifestly macroscopic distances. Such photon pairs make possible such exciting techniques as teleportation and quantum cryptography, as well as the physical realisation of Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen type experiments. In addition, nonclassical properties of light, such as photon antibunching and squeezing, as well as quantum phase measurement and optical tomography are discussed. The author describes relevant experiments and elucidates the physical ideas behind them. This book will be of interest to undergraduates and graduate students studying optics, and to any physicist with an interest in the mysteries of the photon and exciting modern work in quantum cryptography and teleportation.