The term 'nonclassical states' refers to the quantum states that cannot be produced in the usual sources of light, such as lasers or lamps, rather than those requiring more sophisticated apparatus for their production. Theory of Non-classical States of Light describes the current status of the theory of nonclassical states of light including many new and important results as well as introductory material and the history of the subject. The authors concentrate on the most important types of nonclassical states, namely squeezed, even/odd ('Schrodinger cat') and binomial states, including their generalizations. However, a review of other types of nonclassical is also given in the introduction, and methods for generating nonclassical states on various processes of light-matter interaction, their phase-space description, and the time evolution of nonclassical states in these processes is presented in separate chapters. This contributed volume contains all of the necessary formulae and references required to gain a good understanding of the principles and current status of the field. It will provide a valuable information resource for advanced students and researchers in quantum physics.

The recent generation in the laboratory of phase squeezed and intensity squeezed light beams has brought to fruition the theoretical predictions of such non-classical phenomena which have been made and developed in recent years by a number of workers in the field of quantum optics. A vigorous development is now underway of both theory and experiment and the first measurements have been coi:Jfirmed and extended already in some half dozen laboratories. Although the fields of application of these novellight sources are as yet somewhat hazy in our minds and some inspired thinking is required along these lines, the pace and excitement of the research is very clear. It is to he hoped that the new possibilities of: making measurements below the quantum shot noise lirnit which is made possible by these squeezed states of light willlead to further fundamental advances in the near future. In this NATO ARW a number of the leaders in the field met in the extremely pleasant surroundings of Cortina d'Ampezzo and their contributions are recorded in this volume. The meeting was held at the Istituto d'Arte which was enjoying its lOOth anniversary celebrations. This ARW was preceeded by an ONR Special Seminar on "Photons and Quantum Fluctuations", the proceedings of which will be published by Adam Hilger Ltd. The timeliness of the meeting was acknowledged by the support of the NATO Scientific Affairs Division which we would like to acknowledge on behalf of all the participants.

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

Publisher Description

This third edition, like its two predecessors, provides a detailed account of the basic theory needed to understand the properties of light and its interactions with atoms, in particular the many nonclassical effects that have now been observed in quantum-optical experiments. The earlier chapters describe the quantum mechanics of various optical processes, leading from the classical representation of the electromagnetic field to the quantum theory of light. The later chapters develop the theoretical descriptions of some of the key experiments in quantum optics. Over half of the material in this third edition is new. It includes topics that have come into prominence over the last two decades, such as the beamsplitter theory, squeezed light, two-photon interference, balanced homodyne detection, travelling-wave attenuation and amplification, quantum jumps, and the ranges of nonliner optical processes important in the generation of nonclassical light. The book is written as a textbook, with the treatment as a whole appropriate for graduate or postgraduate students, while earlier chapters are also suitable for final- year undergraduates. Over 100 problems help to intensify the understanding of the material presented.

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'.