Lectures on Quantum Optics

Vogel and Weisch develop the theoretical concepts of modern quantum optics. Based on a general quantum-field-theoretical approach various aspects of the topic are presented in a unified manner. Passive optical systems are taken into account in the field quantization by including a spacedependent dielectric. This concept is applied to various devices such as beam splitters, spectral filters, and lossy cavities. Moreover, attention is paid to the interaction of light with atomic sources. The Theory of photocounting, correlation measurements, spectral measurements, and phase-sensitive homodyne detection is developed. In particular, the book deals with fundamental aspects of quantum optics such as non-classical (antibunch-ed, sub-Poissonian, and squeezed) light including its generation in nonlinear optical processes, and possibilities of its application. The interaction of single atoms with light is studied both in the context of the quantum properties of the resonance fluorescence light and for an atom in a high-Q cavity.