The electromagnetic theory of light, which is summarized in Maxwell’s equations, successfully describes many physical problems related to the propagation of light and the interaction of light and matter. There are, however, experimental outcomes in which the quantized light field concept (i.e., the photon) is required to explain the results consistently. Such effects include spontaneous emission, squeezed light, photon antibunching, quantum entanglement, etc. The subject that deals with these problems are called quantum optics. In this course, we will start from the basic physical and mathematical frameworks of quantum optics and learn to apply these frameworks to more complex quantum optical systems.

N/A

No Exams. Your letter grade will be based on your homework and class participation.

Textbook:
Quantum Optics by M.O. Scully and M. S. Zubairy

References:
Optical Coherence and Quantum Optics (L. Mandel and E. Wolf)
: This book is much more detailed than the textbook and provides comprehensive
coverage of quantum optics. You might want to own a copy of this book.

The quantum theory of light (R. Loudon)
: The coverage of this book is narrower. However, it is very clearly written.
(Good coverage on fluctuations, coherence, and atomics optics.)

Quantum Optics: an introduction (M. Fox)
: A tutorial-style textbook. Good introductory coverage on some of recent topics.

Quantum Optics (J.C Garrison and R.Y. Chiao)
: I think this book supplements the textbook quite nicely.

•Selected topics in Ch. 1 ~ 10, and Ch. 17
: These topics form the foundations of quantum optics.

•Selected topics in Ch. 18 ~ 21
: Topics introduced in these chapters are important research problems in quantum optics and also form the basis for quantum optical approaches to quantum information processing.

Regular class teaching.