QuantumOpticsinPhaseSpace

QuantumOpticsinPhaseSpaceprovidesaconciseintroductiontotherapidlymovingfieldofquantumopticsfromthepointofviewofphasespace.Moderninstyleanddidacticallyskillful,QuantumOpticsinPhaseSpacepreparesstudentsfortheirownresearchbypresentingdetailedderivations,manyillustrationsandalargesetofworkableproblemsattheendofeachchapter.Often,thetheoreticaltreatmentsareaccompaniedbythecorrespondingexperiments.Anexhaustivelistofreferencesprovidesaguidetotheliterature.QuantumOpticsinPhaseSpacealsoservesadvancedresearchersasacomprehensivereferencebook.StartingwithanextensivereviewoftheexperimentsthatdefinequantumopticsandabriefsummaryofthefoundationsofquantummechanicstheauthorWolfgangP.SchleichillustratesthepropertiesofquantumstateswiththehelpoftheWignerphasespacedistributionfunction.HisdescriptionofwavesalaWKBconnectssemi-classicalphasespacewiththeBerryphase.Thesesemi-classicaltechniquesprovidedeeperinsightintothetimelytopicsofwavepacketdynamics,fractionalrevivalsandtheTalboteffect.Whereasthefirsthalfofthebookdealswithmechanicaloscillatorssuchasionsinatraporatomsinastandingwavethesecondhalfaddressesproblemswherethequantizationoftheradiationfieldisofimportance.Suchtopicsextensivelydiscussedincludeopticalinterferometry,theatom-fieldinteraction,quantumstatepreparationandmeasurement,entanglement,decoherence,theone-atommaserandatomopticsinquantizedlightfields.QuantumOpticsinPhaseSpacepresentsthesubjectofquantumopticsastransparentlyaspossible.Givingwide-rangingreferences,itenablesstudentstostudyandsolveproblemswithmodernscientificliterature.Theresultisaremarkablyconciseyetcomprehensiveandaccessibletext-andreferencebook-aninspiringsourceofinformationandinsightforstudents,teachersandresearchersalike.