Theoretical Quantum Optics

Winter Semester 2008/2009

Mondays 10.00 – 12.00 room 3343

The lectures are planned for two semesters. For the first part (WS 08/09), topics include:

• quantisation, coherence properties and representations of the electromagnetic field
• quantum phenomena in nonlinear optics, generation and applications of squeezed light
• stochastic methods, open quantum systems and master equations
• interaction of light with atoms

Prerequisites: Quantum mechanics I (mandatory), Electrodynamics (recommended)

Recommended literature:

• D.F. Walls and G.J. Milburn: Quantum Optics (Springer 1994)

The lectures will mostly follow this book

• M.O. Scully and M.S. Zubairy: Quantum Optics (Cambridge Univ. Press 1997)

A bit more detailed than Walls and Milburn and with more emphasis on experimental applications

• L. Mandel and E. Wolf: Optical Coherence and Quantum Optics (Cambridge 1995)

Very detailed presentation of the coherence properties of the electromagnetic field, also includes atom-photon interactions

• C. Cohen-Tannoudji, J. Dupont-Roc and G. Grynberg: Atom-Photon Interactions (Wiley 1992)

Very detailed presentation of the theory of light-atom interaction