Concepts of Quantum Optics

Concepts of Quantum Optics is a coherent and sequential coverage of some real insight into quantum physics.
This book is divided into six chapters, and begins with an overview of the principles and concepts of radiation and quanta, with an emphasis on the significance of the Maxwell's electromagnetic theory of light. The next chapter describes first the properties of the radiation field in a bounded cavity, showing how each cavity field mode has the characteristics of a simple harmonic oscillator and how each can be quantized using known results for the quantum harmonic oscillator. This chapter also deals with the quantum fluctuations of the radiation field and the interpretation of a photon as an occupation of a normal mode of the system. These topics are followed by discussions of the radiation absorption and emission and the principles of coherent state and coherence functions. The final chapter considers the concept of semi-classical theory and its connection to quantum electrodynamics.
This book is of value to undergraduate and postgraduate students who are starting research in laser physics or quantum optics.

Contenu

1. Radiation and Quanta
   1.1 The early history of radiation
   1.2 Maxwell's electromagnetic theory of light
   1.3 Photons and the old quantum theory
   1.4 Quantum mechanics
   1.5 Dirac's radiation theory
   
   2. Quantization of the Radiation Field
      2.1 Cavity modes
      2.2 Quantization of a single-mode field
      2.3 Quantum fluctuations of a single-mode field
      2.4 Multimode fields
      2.5 Zero-point energy and vacuum fluctuations
      2.6 Mode occupation and photons
   3. Absorption and Emission of Radiation
      3.1 Interaction of an atom with a radiation field
      3.2 Perturbation theory and the Golden Rule
      3.3 The Rabi model
      3.4 Excitation of an atom by a quantized radiation field
      3.5 . Induced dipole moments
   4. Coherence Functions
      4.1 Classical coherence
      4.2 Quantum coherence functions
      4.3 The Young two-siit experiment
      4.4 Second-order correlation for single-mode radiation
   5. Coherent States
      5.1 Phase and superposition
      5.2 Coherent states
      5.3 Single mode coherent states
      5.4 Coherent states as minimum uncertainty states
      5.5 Quantum field quasiprobabilities
      5.6 The generator of coherent states
      5.7 Hanbury-Brown and Twiss intensity correlation
   6. Semi-classical Theory and Quantum Electrodynamics
      6.1 Semi-classical limits
      6.2 The relation between semi-classical and quantized Hamiltonians
      6.3 Importance of quantum fluctuations
      6.4 Quantum aspects of light
      References
      Index
      Reprinted Papers
2. Interference fringes with feeble light
3. On the quantum theory of radiation
4. Take a photon
5. Fine structure of the hydrogen atom by a microwave method
6. Zero-point energy and the Lamb shift
7. Interference effects at the single photon level
8. Interference fringes produced by superposition of two independent maser light beams
9. Experimental distinction between the quantum and classical field-theoretic predictions for the photoelectric effect
10. Theory of photoelectric detection of light fluctuations
11. Some basic properties of stimulated and spontaneous emission: A semiclassical approach
12. Observation of the resonant Stark effect at optical frequencies
13. Photon bunching and antibunching
14. Evidence for the quantum nature of light
15. Correlation between photons in two coherent beams of 1ight
16. The question of correlation between photons in coherent light rays
17. Photon antibunching in resonance fluorescence
18. A simple field theoretic description of photon interference