The birth of quantum electronics in the middle of the 20th century, and the subsequent discovery of the laser, led to new trends in physics and a number of photonic technologies. This volume is dedicated to Peter Franken, a pioneer of nonlinear optics, and includes papers by the founders of quantum electronics, Aleksandr Prokhorov, Nicholaas Bloembergen and Norman Ramsey. A number of papers are devoted to current problems in laser physics, written by well-known leaders in the international quantum optics and lasers community and their collaborators. The topics covered range from astronomy to nuclear and semiconductor physics, and from fundamental problems in quantum mechanics to applications in novel laser materials and nanoscience.

This book is a thoroughly modern and highly pedagogical graduate-level introduction to quantum optics, a subject which has witnessed stunning developments in recent years and has come to occupy a central role in the 'second quantum revolution'. The reader is invited to explore the fundamental role that quantum optics plays in the control and manipulation of quantum systems, leading to ultracold atoms, circuit QED, quantum information science, quantum optomechanics, and quantum metrology. The building blocks of the subject are presented in a sequential fashion, starting from the simplest physical situations before moving to increasingly complicated ones. This pedagogically appealing approach leads to quantum entanglement and measurement theory being introduced early on and before more specialized topics such as cavity QED or laser cooling. The final chapter illustrates the power of scientific cross-fertilization by surveying cutting-edge applications of quantum optics and optomechanics in gravitational wave detection, tests of fundamental physics, searches for dark matter, geophysical monitoring, and ultraprecise clocks. Complete with worked examples and exercises, this book provides the reader with enough background knowledge and understanding to follow the current journal literature and begin producing their own original research.

This volume contains the Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute "Quantum Optics and Experimental General Relativity" which was held in Bad Windsheim, Federal Republic of Germany, from August 16 to 29, 1981. At first glance, one might wonder why a meeting should cover these two topics, and a good bit of quantum measurement theory as well, all of which seem to be completely unrelated. The key to what one may call this grand unification lies in the effort, underway in a number of laboratories around the world, to detect gravitational radiation. Present research is pursuing the development of two types of detectors: laser interferometers and resonant bar detectors. Be cause the signals that one is trying to measure are so weak the quan tum mechanical nature of the detectors comes into play. The analy sis of the effects which result from this is facilitated by the use of techniques which have been developed in quantum optics over the years. This analysis also forces one to confront certain issues in the quantum theory of measurement. The laser interferometer detectors, using as they do light, are clearly within the realm of subjects usually considered by quantum optics. For example, the analysis of the noise present in such a de tector can make use of the many techniques which have been developed in quantum optics."

Quantum mechanics does away with the distinction between particles and waves, and one of the more interesting implications of the wave/particle duality - the discovery that atoms may be manipulated in ways analogous to the manipulation of light with lenses and mirrors - has formed the basis for the relatively new field of atom optics. Pierre Meystre's Atom Optics is the first book entirely devoted to this exciting area of research. Reference links to the leading journals in the field, links to research sites, graphics, and updates can be found online.

With a new chapter on quantum entanglement and quantum information, as well as added discussions of the quantum beam splitter, electromagnetically induced transparency, slow light and the input-output formalism, this fourth edition of the brilliant work on quantum optics has been much updated. It still gives a self-contained and broad coverage of the basic elements necessary to understand and carry out research in laser physics and quantum optics, including a review of basic quantum mechanics and pedagogical introductions to system-reservoir interactions and to second quantization. The text reveals the close connection between many seemingly unrelated topics, such as probe absorption, four-wave mixing, optical instabilities, resonance fluorescence and squeezing.

With a new chapter on quantum entanglement and quantum information, as well as added discussions of the quantum beam splitter, electromagnetically induced transparency, slow light and the input-output formalism, this fourth edition of the brilliant work on quantum optics has been much updated. It still gives a self-contained and broad coverage of the basic elements necessary to understand and carry out research in laser physics and quantum optics, including a review of basic quantum mechanics and pedagogical introductions to system-reservoir interactions and to second quantization. The text reveals the close connection between many seemingly unrelated topics, such as probe absorption, four-wave mixing, optical instabilities, resonance fluorescence and squeezing.

One of the most profound revolutions brought about by quantum mechanics is that it does away with the distinction between waves and particles: atoms, in particular, can exhibit all the properties that we associate with wave phenomena, such as diffraction and interference; it has recently even become possible to prepare collections of atoms in coherent states, like those of photons in a laser beam. These developments are at the core of the rapidly expanding field of atom optics. ||Atom Optics gradually leads the reader from elementary concepts to the frontiers of the field. It is organized in three parts, linear, nonlinear, and quantum atom optics. After a review of light forces on atoms and of laser cooling, the first part discusses the application of light forces to atom optical elements such as gratings, mirrors and lenses, matter-wave diffraction, and atomic traps and resonators. The discussion of nonlinear atom optics starts with a review of collisions from a viewpoint that clearly demonstrates its profound analogy with nonlinear optics. The last part, quantum atom optics, first recalls key results of many-body theory in a formulation geared specifically toward atom optics. This is followed by a discussion of atomic Bose-Einstein condensation and "atom lasers." The final chapters treat such applications as atomic solitons, four-wave mixing, superradiance, and conclude with the coherent amplification of matter waves. ||An online web component to the book, a gateway to atom optics, contains links to the leading references and journals in the field, to research sites, and to updates for the contents of the book. FROM THE REVIEWS: ¿Atom optics today has reached maturity: It has become both wave (coherent) and nonlinear atom optics. Of course that expansion required generalization in a new book. Pierre Meystre has taken just such a generalist approach in his timely ATOM OPTICS. His were the pioneering works in atom optics; to get information from the first explorer is always most valuable to the reader ¿ Recommend[ed] to all strata of the physics community.¿ ¿PHYSICS TODAY

This volume contains the Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Study Institute "Quantum Optics and Experimental General Relativity" which was held in Bad Windsheim, Federal Republic of Germany, from August 16 to 29, 1981. At first glance, one might wonder why a meeting should cover these two topics, and a good bit of quantum measurement theory as well, all of which seem to be completely unrelated. The key to what one may call this grand unification lies in the effort, underway in a number of laboratories around the world, to detect gravitational radiation. Present research is pursuing the development of two types of detectors: laser interferometers and resonant bar detectors. Be cause the signals that one is trying to measure are so weak the quan tum mechanical nature of the detectors comes into play. The analy sis of the effects which result from this is facilitated by the use of techniques which have been developed in quantum optics over the years. This analysis also forces one to confront certain issues in the quantum theory of measurement. The laser interferometer detectors, using as they do light, are clearly within the realm of subjects usually considered by quantum optics. For example, the analysis of the noise present in such a de tector can make use of the many techniques which have been developed in quantum optics."

This book is a thoroughly modern and highly pedagogical graduate-level introduction to quantum optics, a subject which has witnessed stunning developments in recent years and has come to occupy a central role in the 'second quantum revolution'. The reader is invited to explore the fundamental role that quantum optics plays in the control and manipulation of quantum systems, leading to ultracold atoms, circuit QED, quantum information science, quantum optomechanics, and quantum metrology. The building blocks of the subject are presented in a sequential fashion, starting from the simplest physical situations before moving to increasingly complicated ones. This pedagogically appealing approach leads to quantum entanglement and measurement theory being introduced early on and before more specialized topics such as cavity QED or laser cooling. The final chapter illustrates the power of scientific cross-fertilization by surveying cutting-edge applications of quantum optics and optomechanics in gravitational wave detection, tests of fundamental physics, searches for dark matter, geophysical monitoring, and ultraprecise clocks. Complete with worked examples and exercises, this book provides the reader with enough background knowledge and understanding to follow the current journal literature and begin producing their own original research.