Physics 690: Quantum and Nonlinear Optics

Fall 2021 Course schedule

Note: this schedule is updated regularly to reflect the topics discussed during the course.

Class date	Material covered	Pre-class tasks
September 1	Classical  description of atom-laser interactions	Review: electro-magnetic waves in vacuum video pdf
September 6	Two-level atom without decoherence, Block sphere	Density matrices refresher
September 8	Two-level atom with decoherence, Maxwell-Bloch equations
September 13	Optical properties of a two-level atom with decays
September 15	Basics of the laser operation
September 20	Basics of the laser operation (cont)
September 22	Homework discussion	Homework #1 Solutions
September 27	Atom-based nonlinear optics: Saturation Spectroscopy
September 29	Atom-based nonlinear optics: EIT/Raman resonances
October 4	Two photon resonances: physical interpretation Refractive index and group velocity Applications for EIT/Raman resonances (video)
October 6	Homework discussion	Homework #2 Solutions
October 11	Nonlinear crystals and frequency conversion
October 13	Laser cooling of atoms Cold atom lectures from 2020 by Seth Aubin: part1, part2.
October 18	Fall break, no class
October 20	Classical description of coherence and fluctuations Interference video	First midterm Solutions
October 25	Quantization of the e-m field
October 27	Description of quantum states of light: coherent and thermal states
November 1	Squeezed states Tutorial on squeezing
November 3	Homework discussion	Homework #3 Solutions
November 8	Detection methods, slides
November 10	Hong-Oh-Mendel interference and Interaction-Free measurements Lev Vaidman's paper on interaction-free measurements
November 15	Homework discussion	Homework #4 Solutions
November 17	Interferometry with coherent and entangled states
November 22	Quantum entanglement Quantum entanglement criteria
November 24	Thanksgiving break, no class
November 29	Interaction between atoms and quantized electromagnetic fields	Second midterm Solutions
December 1	Jayne-Cimmings Model; Spontaneous emission and Superradiance
December 6	Quantum applications
December 8	Homework discussion	Homework #5
December 15, 9am-12pm	Final presentations Schedule (updated 12/14)