Physics 690: Quantum and Nonlinear Optics

Fall 2021

Lectures:  Monday and Wednesday, 11.00-12.20 p.m. in Boswell Hall 38

Instructor: Irina Novikova

Office: Small 251	E-mail: ixnovi@wm.edu
Office hours: by appointment	Telephone: (757) 221-3693
Course website: http://physics.wm.edu/~inovikova/phys690/phys690.htm

Course objectives:

There is a growing interest in quantum technology in all areas of physics; quantum physics becomes the foundation of new paradigms in information technologies, material design, sensing and measurements. This course will introduce the basics of modern quantum technologies using mostly example and formalism of atomic physics, optics and light-atom interaction, the topics that historically served as cradles for quantum physics development.

Course schedule and homework assignments

Course materials

There is no required textbook for the course. The lecture note will be based, in part, on following books:

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

M.O. Scully and M.S. Zubairy: Quantum Optics, Cambridge University Press.

Lecture notes and occasional additional published materials will be available on-line after each lecture. Note that some materials will be available only as notes or prerecorded videos, and it will be the students’ responsibility to study them before the corresponding class.

Evaluation

Participation	50%
Midterm tests	10% each
Final presentation	30%

Homework: the homework will be assigned, but not collected or graded (but presented and discussed in class, contributing to the Participation grade). Solutions will be provided for self-evaluation after the due date.

Participation: all students will regularly present homework problems to the class. The specific problems to present will be assigned in the beginning of each discussion randomly, but all students are expected to contribute to both homework problem discussions and in-class discussions. Participation also reflects class attendance.

Midterms: all students will complete two take-home midterm tests. The problems will be posted at least a week before the submission deadline, with no restrictions on how long the students can work on them. The tests will be open notes and open course textbooks, although students are not allowed to search for similar problems or solutions in other sources or online.

Final presentation: each student will prepare a 20-25 minutes final presentation based on a recently published paper relevant to one of the class topics.

Office hours

Because of a small size of the class, I will not schedule a designated time for office hours. Instead, any student willing to discuss any aspect of the course should let me know and we will find the time that is convenient for both of us. Students are expected to seek advice while preparing for their in-class presentations or while working on homework problems. The only thing the instructor will not be able to help are the midterm solutions.

William & Mary accommodates students with disabilities in accordance with federal laws and university policy. Any student who feels s/he may need an accommodation based on the impact of a learning, psychiatric, physical, or chronic health diagnosis should contact Student Accessibility Services staff at 757-221-2509 or at sas@wm.edu to determine if accommodations are warranted and to obtain an official letter of accommodation. For more information, please see www.wm.edu/sas