Quantum Optics gives a comprehensive coverage of developments in quantum optics over the past twenty years. In the early chapters the formalism of quantum optics is elucidated and the main techniques are introduced. These are applied in the later chapters to problems such as squeezed states of light, resonance fluorescence, laser theory, quantum theory of four-wave mixing, quantum non-demolition measurements, Bell's inequalities, and atom optics. Experimental results are used to illustrate the theory throughout. This yields the most comprehensive and up-to-date coverage of experiment and theory in quantum optics in any textbook.

This volume contains notes based on the lectures delivered at the fourth New Zealand Symposium in Laser Physics, held at the University of Waikato, Hamilton, February 10-15, 1986. At this meeting, about 80 physicists work ing in many parts of the world met to discuss topics of current interest in contemporary laser physics and quantum optics. These symposia, which have been held triennially since 1977, have evolved into an important meet ing ground for experimentalists and theoreticians working in a very rapidly developing field. As the format has evolved, the number of participants, in cluding the number from overseas, has grown steadily, and this year a poster session was included for the first time, enabling a far greater range of topics to be discussed than was possible in the limited lecture time available. At this meeting the major interest of the participants concerned the the oretical investigation of squeezed states of the radiation field and the very recently reported experimental observations of such states. Other related ar eas of work reported here include bistability and chaotic behaviour of optical systems, the quantum theory of measurements, optical tests of general rel ativity, and the current technological limitations governing the stabilization of lasers. The editors would like to thank the participants for providing detailed notes for publication shortly after the meeting, and the various organisa tions that have provided financial support.

An in-depth and wide-ranging introduction to the field of quantum optics.

From the reviews: "This is a book that should be found in any physics library. It is extremely useful for all graduate students, Ph.D. students and researchers interested in the quantum physics of light." Optics & Photonics News

Written primarily for advanced undergraduate and Master's level students in physics, this text includes a broad range of topics in applied quantum optics such as laser cooling, Bose-Einstein condensation and quantum information processing.

Covering a number of important subjects in quantum optics, this textbook is an excellent introduction for advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students, familiarizing readers with the basic concepts and formalism as well as the most recent advances. The first part of the textbook covers the semi-classical approach where matter is quantized, but light is not. It describes significant phenomena in quantum optics, including the principles of lasers. The second part is devoted to the full quantum description of light and its interaction with matter, covering topics such as spontaneous emission, and classical and non-classical states of light. An overview of photon entanglement and applications to quantum information is also given. In the third part, non-linear optics and laser cooling of atoms are presented, where using both approaches allows for a comprehensive description. Each chapter describes basic concepts in detail, and more specific concepts and phenomena are presented in 'complements'.

This volume contains ten lectures presented in the series ULB Lectures in Nonlinear Optics at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles during the period October 28 to November 4, 1991. A large part of the first six lectures is taken from material prepared for a book of somewhat larger scope which will be published,by Springer under the title Quantum Statistical Methods in Quantum Optics. The principal reason for the early publication of the present volume concerns the material contained in the last four lectures. Here I have put together, in a more or less systematic way, some ideas about the use of stochastic wavefunctions in the theory of open quantum optical systems. These ideas were developed with the help of two of my students, Murray Wolinsky and Liguang Tian, over a period of approximately two years. They are built on a foundation laid down in a paper written with Surendra Singh, Reeta Vyas, and Perry Rice on waiting-time distributions and wavefunction collapse in resonance fluorescence [Phys. Rev. A, 39, 1200 (1989)]. The ULB lecture notes contain my first serious atte~pt to give a complete account of the ideas and their potential applications. I am grateful to Professor Paul Mandel who, through his invitation to give the lectures, stimulated me to organize something useful out of work that may, otherwise, have waited considerably longer to be brought together.