Proceedings of a NATO ASI held in Istanbul, Turkey, August 14-26, 1989

The field of quantum optics has witnessed significant theoretical and experimental developments in recent years. This book provides an in-depth and wide-ranging introduction to the subject, emphasising throughout the basic principles and their applications. The book begins by developing the basic tools of quantum optics, and goes on to show the application of these tools in a variety of quantum optical systems, including lasing without inversion, squeezed states and atom optics. The final four chapters are devoted to a discussion of quantum optical tests of the foundations of quantum mechanics, and to particular aspects of measurement theory. Assuming only a background of standard quantum mechanics and electromagnetic theory, and containing many problems and references, this book will be invaluable to graduate students of quantum optics, as well as to researchers in this field.

This new edition gives a unique and broad coverage of basic laser-related phenomena that allow graduate students, scientists and engineers to carry out research in quantum optics and laser physics. It covers quantization of the electromagnetic field, quantum theory of coherence, atom-field interaction models, resonance fluorescence, quantum theory of damping, laser theory using both the master equation and the Langevin theory, the correlated emission laser, input-output theory with applications to non-linear optics, quantum trajectories, quantum non-demolition measurements and generation of non-classical vibrational states of ions in a Paul trap. In this third edition, there is an enlarged chapter on trapped ions, as well as new sections on quantum computing and quantum bits with applications. There is also additional material included for quantum processing and entanglement. These topics are presented in a unified and didactic manner, each chapter is accompanied by specific problems and hints to solutions to deepen the knowledge.

Proceedings of a NATO ASI held in Edime, Turkey, September 5-16, 1994

Quantum Optics & Spectroscopy Proceedings Of The 18th International School Of Quantum Optics & Spectroscopy, Gdansk-Sobieszewo, 3-8 September 1990.

The advent of new experimental techniques has made possible a new generation of more precise experimental tests of fundamental quantum mechanics. This workshop addressed the confrontation of new and proposed experimental tests of quantum mechanics with standard and nonstandard quantum theory. The broad, cross-disciplinary view of the subject brought together eminent theorists and experimentalists from diverse fields.

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.

Quantum Optics in Phase Space provides a concise introduction to the rapidly moving field of quantum optics from the point of view of phase space. Modern in style and didactically skillful, Quantum Optics in Phase Space prepares students for their own research by presenting detailed derivations, many illustrations and a large set of workable problems at the end of each chapter. Often, the theoretical treatments are accompanied by the corresponding experiments. An exhaustive list of references provides a guide to the literature. Quantum Optics in Phase Space also serves advanced researchers as a comprehensive reference book. Starting with an extensive review of the experiments that define quantum optics and a brief summary of the foundations of quantum mechanics the author Wolfgang P. Schleich illustrates the properties of quantum states with the help of the Wigner phase space distribution function. His description of waves ala WKB connects semi-classical phase space with the Berry phase. These semi-classical techniques provide deeper insight into the timely topics of wave packet dynamics, fractional revivals and the Talbot effect. Whereas the first half of the book deals with mechanical oscillators such as ions in a trap or atoms in a standing wave the second half addresses problems where the quantization of the radiation field is of importance. Such topics extensively discussed include optical interferometry, the atom-field interaction, quantum state preparation and measurement, entanglement, decoherence, the one-atom maser and atom optics in quantized light fields. Quantum Optics in Phase Space presents the subject of quantum optics as transparently as possible. Giving wide-ranging references, it enables students to study and solve problems with modern scientific literature. The result is a remarkably concise yet comprehensive and accessible text- and reference book - an inspiring source of information and insight for students, teachers and researchers alike.

Proceedings of a NATO ASI held in Cargese, France, August 8-18, 1989

Distinct scientific communities are usually involved in the three fields of quasi-crystals, of liquid crystals, and of systems having modulated crystalline structures. However, in recent years, there has been a growing feeling that a number of common problems were encountered in the three fields. These comprise the need to recur to "exotic" spaces for describing the type of order of the atomic or molecular configurations of these systems (Euclidian "superspaces" of dimensions greater than 3, or 4-dimensional curved spaces); the recognition that one has to deal with geometrically frustrated systems, and also the occurence of specific excitations (static or dynamic) resulting from the continuous degeneracies of the stable structures considered. In the view of discussing these problems, aNA TO-Advance Research Workshop has assembled in Preveza (Greece), in september 1989,50 experts of the three considered fields (with an equal proportion of theorists and experimentalists). 35 hours of conferences and discussions have led to a more detailed evaluation of the similarities and of the differences in the approaches implemented in the studies of the three types of systems. The papers contained in this NATO-series book provide the substance of this workshop. The reader will find three types of papers. Some very short papers giving the main ideas stated on a subject. Papers comprising 8-10 pages which stick closely to the contents of the talks presented. Longer papers providing more extensively the background and results relative to a given topic. It is worth summarizing the principal outputs of the workshop.