In studying the radiation-matter interaction, one can take two different approaches. The first is typical of spectroscopy: one considers the interaction between radi ation and a single atom, i. e. , one studies those phenomena in which the presence of other atoms is irrelevant. The other attitude consists, in contrast, in studying those phenomena which arise just from the simultaneous presence of many atoms. In fact, all the atoms interact with the same electromagnetic field; under suitable conditions, this situation creates strong atom-atom correlations, which in turn give rise to a cooperative behavior of the system as a whole. Cooperative means that the overall behavior is quite different from the superposition of the effects arising from single atoms and is completely unpredictable if one neglects the coup ling between the atoms induced by their common electromagnetic field. This book contains five complete and up-to-date contributions on the theory and experiments of three coherence effects in radiation-matter interaction: resonance fluorescences, optical bistability, and superfluorescence. They have raised in creasing interest in recent years from both a fundamental and an applicative view point. Even if their phenomenology appears completely different, these effects be long in the same book because they are striking examples of open systems driven far from thermal equilibrium, as those considered in Haken's synergetics and in Prigogine's theory of dissipative structures. This aspect is discussed in the in troducting chapter, in which we outline the basic physics and the essential features which unify these three effects.

Starting from first principles, this book introduces the fundamental concepts and methods of dissipative quantum mechanics and explores related phenomena in condensed matter systems. Major experimental achievements in cooperation with theoretical advances have brightened the field and brought it to the attention of the general community in natural sciences. Nowadays, working knowledge of dissipative quantum mechanics is an essential tool for many physicists. This book OCo originally published in 1990 and republished in 1999 and and 2008 as enlarged second and third editions OCo delves significantly deeper than ever before into the fundamental concepts, methods and applications of quantum dissipative systems. This fourth edition provides a self-contained and updated account of the quantum mechanics of open systems and offers important new material including the most recent developments. The subject matter has been expanded by about fifteen percent. Many chapters have been completely rewritten to better cater to both the needs of newcomers to the field and the requests of the advanced readership. Two chapters have been added that account for recent progress in the field. This book should be accessible to all graduate students in physics. Researchers will find this a rich and stimulating source."

Recent advances in the quantum theory of macroscopic systems have brightened up the field and brought it into the focus of a general community in natural sciences. The fundamental concepts, methods and applications including the most recent developments, previously covered for the most part only in the original literature, are presented here in a comprehensive treatment to an audience who is reasonably familiar with quantum-statistical mechanics and has had rudimentary contacts with the path integral formulation.This book deals with the phenomena and theory of decoherence and dissipation in quantum mechanics that arise from the interaction with the environment. A general path integral description of equilibrium thermodynamics and non-equilibrium dynamics is developed. The approach can deal with weak and strong dissipation, and with all kinds of memory effects. Applications to numerous phenomenological and microscopic systems are presented, where emphasis is put on condensed matter and chemical physics. The basic principles and methods of preparation functions, propagating functions, and time correlation functions are described. Special attention is focused on quantum tunneling and quantum coherence phenomena of macroscopic variables. Many illustrative realistic examples are discussed in some detail. The book attempts to provide a broad perspective and to open up this rapidly developing field to interested researchers normally working in different fields.In this enlarged second edition, the nineteen chapters of the first edition have been expanded by about one-third to better meet both the requests of newcomers to the field and of advanced readers, and seven new chapters have been added that review the most recent important developments.

This comprehensive textbook provides the fundamental concepts and methods of dissipative quantum mechanics and related issues in condensed matter physics starting from first principles. It deals with the phenomena and theory of decoherence, relaxation and dissipation in quantum mechanics that arise from the random exchange of energy with the environment. Major theoretical advances in combination with stunning experimental achievements and the arising perspective for quantum computing have brightened the field and brought it to the attention of the general community in natural sciences. Expertise in dissipative quantum mechanics is by now beneficial in a broad sphere.This book — originally published in 1992 and republished as enlarged and updated second, third and fourth edition in 1999, 2008, and 2012 — dives even deeper into the fundamental concepts, methods and applications of quantum dissipation. The fifth edition provides a self-contained and updated account of the quantum mechanics and quantum statistics of open systems. The subject matter of the book has been thoroughly revised to better comply with the needs of newcomers and the demands of the advanced readership. Most of the chapters are rewritten to enhance clarity and topicality. Four new chapters covering recent developments in the field have been added. There are about 600 references. This book is intended for use by advanced undergraduate and graduate students in physics, and for researchers active in the field. They will find the monograph as a rich and stimulating source.

Starting from first principles, this book introduces the fundamental concepts and methods of dissipative quantum mechanics and explores related phenomena in condensed matter systems. Major experimental achievements in cooperation with theoretical advances have brightened the field and brought it to the attention of the general community in natural sciences. Nowadays, working knowledge of dissipative quantum mechanics is an essential tool for many physicists. This book — originally published in 1990 and republished in 1999 and and 2008 as enlarged second and third editions — delves significantly deeper than ever before into the fundamental concepts, methods and applications of quantum dissipative systems.This fourth edition provides a self-contained and updated account of the quantum mechanics of open systems and offers important new material including the most recent developments. The subject matter has been expanded by about fifteen percent. Many chapters have been completely rewritten to better cater to both the needs of newcomers to the field and the requests of the advanced readership. Two chapters have been added that account for recent progress in the field. This book should be accessible to all graduate students in physics. Researchers will find this a rich and stimulating source.

Major advances in the quantum theory of macroscopic systems, in combination with stunning experimental achievements, have brightened the field and brought it to the attention of the general community in natural sciences. Today, working knowledge of dissipative quantum mechanics is an essential tool for many physicists. This book — originally published in 1990 and republished in 1999 as an enlarged second edition — delves much deeper than ever before into the fundamental concepts, methods, and applications of quantum dissipative systems, including the most recent developments.In this third edition, 26 chapters from the second edition contain additional material and several chapters are completely rewritten. It deals with the phenomena and theory of decoherence, relaxation, and dissipation in quantum mechanics that arise from the interaction with the environment. In so doing, a general path integral description of equilibrium thermodynamics and nonequilibrium dynamics is developed.

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.

This volume contains tutorial papers from the lectures and seminars presented at the NATO Advanced Study Institute on "Instabilities and Chaos in Quantum Optics", held at the "Il Ciocco" Conference Center, Castelvecchio Pascoli, Lucca, Italy, June 28-July 7, 1987. The title of the volume is designated Instabilities and Chaos in Quantum Optics II, because of the nearly coincident publication of a collection of articles on research in this field edited by F.T. Arecchi and R.G. Harrison [Instabilities and Chaos in Quantum Optics, (Springer, Berlin, 1987) 1. That volume provides more detailed information about some of these topics. Together they will serve as a comprehensive and tutorial pair of companion volumes. This school was directed by Prof. Massimo Inguscio, of the Department of Physics, University of Naples, Naples, Italy to whom we express our gratitude on behalf of all lecturers and students. The Scientific Advisory Committee consisted of N.B. Abraham of Bryn Mawr College; F.T. Arecchi of the National Institute of Optics in Florence and the University of Florence, and L.A. Lugiato of the Politechnic Institute of Torino. The school continues the long tradition of Europhysics Summer Schools in Quantum Electronics which have provided instruction and training for young researchers and advanced students working in this field for almost twenty years.

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.

The Seventh Rochester Conference on Coherence and Quantum Optics was held on the campus of the University of Rochester during the four-day period June 7 - 10, 1996. More than 280 scientists from 33 countries participated. This book contains the Proceedings of the meeting. This Conference differed from the previous six in the series in having only a limited number of oral presentations, in order to avoid too many parallel sessions. Another new feature was the introduction of tutorial lectures. Most contributed papers were presented in poster sessions. The Conference was sponsored by the American Physical Society, by the Optical Society of America, by the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics and by the University of Rochester. We wish to express our appreciation to these organizations for their support and we especially extend our thanks to the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics for providing financial assistance to a number of speakers from Third World countries, to enable them to take part in the meeting.