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'Fox has done a remarkable job at picking the key topics from a broad field. A genuinely interesting experiment in undergraduate education could be put together on the basis of Fox's textbook.' Physics Today, September 2007
This is a modern text on quantum optics for advanced undergraduate students. It provides explanations based primarily on intuitive physical understanding, rather than mathematical derivations. The book also includes worked examples and exercises. (CERN Courier )
This is a modern text on quantum optics for advanced undergraduate students. It provides explanations based primarily on intuitive physical understanding, rather than mathematical derivations. The book also includes worked examples and exercises. (CERN Courier )
Product Description
Most previous texts on quantum optics have been written primarily for the graduate student market at PhD level and above. Quantum optics: an introduction aims to introduce a wide range of topics at a lower level suitable for advanced undergraduate and Masters level students in physics. The text is divided into four main parts, covering modern topics in both pure and applied quantum optics: I. Introduction and background material. II. Photons. III. Atom-photon interactions. IV. Quantum information processing. The emphasis of the subject development is on intuitive physical understanding rather than mathematical arguments, although many derivations are included where appropriate. The text includes numerous illustrations, with a particular emphasis on the experimental observations of quantum optical phenomena. Each chapter includes worked examples, together with 10-15 exercises with solutions. Six appendices are included to supplement the main subject material.
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I wish this book had been published when I first started as a grad student! Instead there was Loudon's "The Quantum Theory of Light" and Marlan Scully's "Quantum Optics" - both excellent books, but both lose sight of the fundamental physics, and do not really bridge the gap between most physics degrees and the subtle mathematical world of quantum optics. This is a book which really introduces the subject from a concise fundamental physics footing, taking into account that new grad students are not experts in the field - it is enough work for some students to come to terms with a lot of new mathematics, let alone try and understand where many physical approximations creep in - some quantum optics lectures simply introduce expressions without explanation, and this book seems to answer most of them.
A case in point is the quantum treatment of the Hanbury Brown-Twiss experiment, where in the treatement of one of the beamsplitter output ports, a subtraction appears. This book is the only place where I've clearly seen sufficient explanation, in a margin note, that this arises through conservation of energy (actually you are not handed this on a plate, but given a guided problem that shows how it arises, which is a good idea).
And here lies the only complaint about the book, that it uses margin notes. It might sound a strange complaint, perhaps its just me being stupid, but if you've spent a few years reading books and papers where you're used to scanning through single column blocks of text for a vital bit of information, your eyes don't immediately notice an off-set, small block of margin text (in small font, so it looks like a figure caption). A few times I've been caught out searching for explanations in the main body of the text, only to realise after much head scratching that its in the margin notes!
In all, I find this the best book I've ever read - it makes quantum optics enjoyable, simply because of the grass-roots physics. Not everybody in quantum optics is a theorist, some people actually have to do experiments, which is the hardest part of quantum optics.
Thankyou Mark Fox for making Quantum Optics accessible and enjoyable to all!
A case in point is the quantum treatment of the Hanbury Brown-Twiss experiment, where in the treatement of one of the beamsplitter output ports, a subtraction appears. This book is the only place where I've clearly seen sufficient explanation, in a margin note, that this arises through conservation of energy (actually you are not handed this on a plate, but given a guided problem that shows how it arises, which is a good idea).
And here lies the only complaint about the book, that it uses margin notes. It might sound a strange complaint, perhaps its just me being stupid, but if you've spent a few years reading books and papers where you're used to scanning through single column blocks of text for a vital bit of information, your eyes don't immediately notice an off-set, small block of margin text (in small font, so it looks like a figure caption). A few times I've been caught out searching for explanations in the main body of the text, only to realise after much head scratching that its in the margin notes!
In all, I find this the best book I've ever read - it makes quantum optics enjoyable, simply because of the grass-roots physics. Not everybody in quantum optics is a theorist, some people actually have to do experiments, which is the hardest part of quantum optics.
Thankyou Mark Fox for making Quantum Optics accessible and enjoyable to all!
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
6 reviews
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Excellent Introduction to Quantum Optics
10 May 2007
Format:Paperback
I developed an interest in quantum optics in my last year of undergraduate school but I became discouraged with it since every book that I picked up on the subject was esoteric and too involved for an introduction. It seemed as if NONE of the quantum optics textbooks available were appropriate as an introduction. But then I found this book.
Although not as mathematically intensive as I was hoping for it to be, it explains the physics very well. And although it doesn't compensate for many years of post-graduate study, I was able to better understand research papers in quantum optics due to this book.
The book follows a rather traditional approach to developing quantum optics...first starting off with a discussion of important results in electromagnetism, classical optics, and quantum mechanics...then progressing to the theory of photons (discussing photon statistics, coherent states, and second quantization (with regard to photon number states)). Furthermore, it discusses the essential "backbone" of quantum optics (light-matter interactions) and then applications of quantum optics (quantum computing, quantum entanglement, etc.).
I broke the rules and skipped ahead to the applications section and I must say that everything seems to make sense because of Fox's ability to convey difficult ideas in a simple, easy-to-understand manner.
For anybody just starting to take an interest in quantum optics (like I was at one point), I would strongly suggest this book. It's not as mathematically sophisticated as Loudon's "The Quantum Theory of Light" (which is another must-have for quantum optics), but it's an excellent introduction.
Although not as mathematically intensive as I was hoping for it to be, it explains the physics very well. And although it doesn't compensate for many years of post-graduate study, I was able to better understand research papers in quantum optics due to this book.
The book follows a rather traditional approach to developing quantum optics...first starting off with a discussion of important results in electromagnetism, classical optics, and quantum mechanics...then progressing to the theory of photons (discussing photon statistics, coherent states, and second quantization (with regard to photon number states)). Furthermore, it discusses the essential "backbone" of quantum optics (light-matter interactions) and then applications of quantum optics (quantum computing, quantum entanglement, etc.).
I broke the rules and skipped ahead to the applications section and I must say that everything seems to make sense because of Fox's ability to convey difficult ideas in a simple, easy-to-understand manner.
For anybody just starting to take an interest in quantum optics (like I was at one point), I would strongly suggest this book. It's not as mathematically sophisticated as Loudon's "The Quantum Theory of Light" (which is another must-have for quantum optics), but it's an excellent introduction.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
An excellent undergraduate introduction
10 July 2008
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Fox does a great job explaining a complex and dense field from an intuitive and experimental standpoint. I read this book after one term of 1-D introductory Q.M. and everything made sense. The experiments and set-ups described throughout the book are a great tool and were particularly handy since I was using the book to get ready for a summer internship in a Quantum Optics group. The only downside is that the book is quite lacking from a theoretical standpoint. If you are a bit more comfortable with Q.M., say at the level of Shankar, Liboff, or Sakuri, try Knight instead. Nonetheless, this is a great book.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
A proper introducton
19 Jan 2008
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
At last we have a text that provides a comprehensive introduction to quantum optics for the beginner - both theory and experiment - and one which takes you through many of the most recent concepts and potential applications in computation, cryptography and teleportation etc.
A feature of this text is the clear explanations and carefully explained jargon - it's NOT just mostly a collection of math like some other supposedly introductory texts.
If you want to find out what quantum optics is all about - this is a great book to start with.
A feature of this text is the clear explanations and carefully explained jargon - it's NOT just mostly a collection of math like some other supposedly introductory texts.
If you want to find out what quantum optics is all about - this is a great book to start with.
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