Modern Foundations of Quantum Optics by Centenary Professor of Quantum Information University of Leeds Vlatko Vedral (PDF)

Description

This textbook offers a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the basic ideas in modern quantum optics, beginning with a review of the whole of optics, and culminating in the quantum description of light. The book emphasizes the phenomenon of interference as the key to understanding the behavior of light, and discusses distinctions between the classical and quantum nature of light. Laser operation is reviewed at great length and many applications are covered, such as laser cooling, Bose condensation and the basics of quantum information and teleportation. Quantum mechanics is introduced in detail using the Dirac notation, which is explained from first principles. In addition, a number of non-standard topics are covered such as the impossibility of a light-based Maxwell’s demon, the derivation of the Second Law of thermodynamics from the first-order time-dependent quantum perturbation theory, and the concept of Berry’s phase. The book emphasizes the physical basics much more than the formal mathematical side, and is ideal for a first, yet in-depth, introduction to the subject. Five sets of problems with solutions are included to further aid understanding of the subject.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐This book achieves a truly quantum mechanical quality: it’s a superposition of the enjoyable and the frustrating. Based on lecture notes by Vlatko Vedral (VV), it’s written in an open, friendly style. It also takes a very pragmatic approach to calculations, full of educated guesses and approximations. This gives it some feeling of real-life physics.But the choice of material is quite unorthodox. The main theme of the book is a derivation of the Einstein A and B coefficients for emission and absorbtion, done progressively in classical, semi-classical and (toy version) quantum field theory methodologies. But unlike some books that show how approximate calculations lead to good agreement with observation (I’m thinking especially of P.-G. de Gennes’s beautiful “Scaling Concepts in Polymer Physics”), this book is staunchly theoretical. And since VV shows that the non-QFT approaches to the A and B derivations yield answers that mostly are wrong, it’s a bit frustrating. It’s best to have taken a QM course before reading this book, and an early chapter or two of a QFT book such as Ryder might help too — it will put VV’s abbreviated treatment into context.Many topics are treated rather too glibly. E.g., the question of “what is a photon” gets two pages and a one-sentence answer from VV (@137-138), whereas SPIE, the leading photonics professional association, is now holding biannual conferences devoted solely to this question. VV gives similarly shallow treatment to several topics that don’t really relate (or at least, aren’t convincingly shown to relate) to quantum optics, such as Berry phase and a purported derivation of the Second Law of Thermodynamics from quantum theory. The Second Law “derivation” is particularly hand-waving, since it relies on a master equation that is pulled out of a hat from nowhere (@99-100). The Berry phase discussion uses a similar trick: rather than being shown a derivation where the phase comes from, you’re shown a Schroedinger equation and then told “And here is the trick: the only way that we can solve this is to assume” the existence of the phase that a reasonable reader might have thought VV was deriving (@124). This leaves one without physical insight. Moreover, given the book’s title, many pertinent topics are left out. If you expect to learn a lot about nonlinear media, different types of lasers and their operating principles, or the nature of laser light, you will learn little at best. EPR issues, Bose-Einstein condensation, quantum computing, and teleportation get similarly short shrift, often barely one page. Semiconductor optics, optical tweezers, attosecond pulses, and even humble spectroscopy are entirely absent.Many of the rough edges of classroom teaching persist, such as cheerful abuses of notation, and chatty padding like “I’d like to close this section with a bit more philosophical topic … which I’d like to say a few words about now” (@ 167). Overall, though, I think the writing style is more of a help than a hindrance. There are also several problem sets with full solutions, a definite asset.What’s the point of this book, then? My best guess is historical interest, an example of physicists’ working style, and theoretical context. Those can be worthwhile aims if the book is supplementary reading, but I would have been very frustrated to have taken this material in a course: it’s very hard to identify what material you have mastered when you complete this book. The book’s best function may be to serve as a kind of matrix or cement that can hold together other, more substantial blocks of your physics education.

⭐This could have been a good book it the author had been more careful on the writing and on explaining things better. Often important points are not explained, with the author asking to reader to understand the point it self. The happens endlessly over the book. Also the number of wrong formulas, mixed notation, undefined quantities makes the reading very hard. Maybe the author realize all this a decides to produce a new edition. Just to have an idea aof wrong formulas here is a sample:1.13, 1.14, 4.10, 5.11 and 5.13 are inconsistent among them selves, 6.15, 7.40, 7.47,7.48, 7.54, 8.28, 8.31, etc.

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