Lectures on Light

This book aims to connect introductory quantum mechanics with the current research frontier in optics and in the scientific fields that rely on light. Specialists in quantum optics can use it as a reference, and researchers from other disciplines who need to understand light and how it is applied will also find it valuable.

Rather than drawing on many separate techniques, the text relies on one analytical method, the density matrix, to examine complex optical effects in both established and cross-disciplinary work. Its progression is brisk and tightly ordered, moving from basic to advanced material. Subjects covered include laser tweezers, laser cooling, coherent population transfer, optical magnetism, electromagnetically induced transparency, squeezed light, quantum information science, and cavity quantum electrodynamics.

The material is arranged step by step. It opens with the simplest case, two-level atoms that do not move, then introduces atomic motion and additional energy levels. From there it covers first-, second-, and third-order coherence effects, which provide the means to analyze new phenomena in systems that are not yet fully understood. The examples are unconventional and the problems original, designed to challenge experienced researchers toward a mathematical approach that can address nearly any new problem involving light. An extensive bibliography points readers to related mathematical techniques and subject areas.

This revised edition adds more than 40 new problems, bringing the total to 110, and includes an instructor's solution manual. New sections cover quantum interference, Fano resonance, optical magnetism, quantum computation, laser cooling of solids, and the irreducible representation of magnetic interactions. The literature references at the ends of chapters 5, 6, and 7 on ultrafast science, nonlinear optics, and x-ray and high-field physics have been doubled, and the subject index has been substantially expanded.