Physics 481/690: Quantum Optics

Fall 2015

Lectures:  Monday and Wednesday, 10.00-10:50 a.m. in Small  233

Instructor: Irina Novikova

Office: Small 251	E-mail: ixnovi[at]wm.edu
Office hours: TBD	Telephone: (757) 221-3693
Web-site: http://physics.wm.edu/~inovikova/QuantOptF15/phys481.htm

Pre-requisite: Phys314 Quantum Mechanics II or equivalent

Required text: C. C. Gerry and P.L. Knight: Introductory Quantum Optics, Cambridge University Press.

Homework: 6 assignments (see course schedule for due dates)

Grading:	Homework	40%
	Midterm test	30%
	Final presentation	30%

Course schedule and Homework Assignments

Tentative course content

Quantum field theory of light

Quantization of an electro-magnetic field, quadrature operators, vacuum fluctuations and the zero-point energy  

Simple quantum states of light

Coherent states, thermal states, Fock (number) states, squeezed light

Beam splitter, interferometers and detectors

Quantum mechanics of beam splitters, interferometry with single photon and interaction-free measurements, photodetectors and quantum tomography, quantum coherence functions

Emission and absorption of radiation by atoms

Atom-field interactions, Rabi and Jaynes-Cummings models, dissipative interactions

Optical tests of quantum mechanics

Entanglement, quantum eraser, optical tests of local realism, Bell’s theorem, non-demolition measurements, quantum teleportation.