Physical foundations of quantum electronics

[...]... 16:14 2 World Scientific Book - 9in x 6in Physical Foundations of Quantum Electronics 1.1 Basic notions of quantum electronics The operation of lasers and masers rests on ‘the three whales’, basic notions of quantum electronics — namely, stimulated emission, population inversion, and feedback 1.1.1 Stimulated emission Stimulated emission leads to the ‘multiplication’ of photons: a photon hitting an excited... influence further development of quantum electronics 1.2.2 Radio spectroscopy The first devices of quantum electronics, masers, which were later used in applications such as generation and amplification of waves in the centimeter range, were developed only in the middle of the 1950s Remarkably, quantum electronics has first conquered the radio range; lasers appeared at the beginning of the 1960s This is partly... the development of quantum optics is its application to quantum information, a field that emerged in the end of the 20th century at the boundary of quantum mechanics, mathematics, and information science [Nielsen (2000)] Along with the quantum metrology, which is briefly mentioned in the book, quantum information and quantum communication technologies became a real practical output of quantum optics,... diversity of fields, and also because it poses new problems for these fields and provides them with new experimental methods 1.2 History of quantum electronics Quantum electronics can be considered as a new chapter in the theory of light and, more generally, in the theory of the interaction between electromagnetic field and matter The earliest chapters of this theory were devoted to the empirical description of. .. before the discovery of certain concepts and laws, which form the base of a quantum generator March 23, 2011 16:14 6 World Scientific Book - 9in x 6in Physical Foundations of Quantum Electronics 1.2.1 First steps The first step along this way, which took several decades, was made in 1916 by A Einstein who introduced the notions of stimulated emission and absorption A quantitative theory of these effects was... these states, can form the basis for quantum gates, which, in their turn, may in the nearest future become the key elements of a quantum computer [Nielsen (2000)] Different approaches to the measurement of quantum states serve as a powerful tool for quantum state tomography and quantum process tomography Finally, the most advanced branch of quantum information is quantum key distribution, in which a... Chapter 1 Introduction Quantum electronics studies the interaction of electromagnetic field with matter in various wavelength ranges, from radio to X-rays and gamma rays Investigation of the basic laws of this interaction led to the creation of lasers, sources of coherent (i.e., monochromatic and directed) intense light Optimization of the existing lasers and the development of new laser types, as well... Einstein to the notion of photon, and from Bohr’s postulates Quantum theory of dispersion was formulated in the 1920s by Kramers and Heisenberg Meanwhile, Dirac, Heisenberg, and Pauli developed quantum electrodynamics The history of quantum electronics, in its turn, is quite interesting and instructive [Dunskaya (1974)] In principle, at the beginning of the 20th century the level of laboratory technique... surrounding an atom can play the role of a thermostat and cause relaxation (Sec 2.5) A consistent theory of electromagnetic processes should describe both the matter and the field based on the principles of quantum mechanics However, most part of quantum electronics effects are sufficiently well described by the socalled semiclassical theory of radiation, in which only the motion of particles is quantized while... a large group of atoms described by a single wave function, is one of the few examples of a macroscopic object manifesting quantum behavior Similarly to single atoms and ions, a BEC can be manipulated by means of laser beams 1.3.5 Optics of nonclassical light Quantum optics, started by the famous Hanbury Brown–Twiss experiment (Sec 7.2) in 1956, had ‘explosive’ development in the end of the last century . properties of light (Chapter 7). The first four chapters describe the theoretical base of more traditional parts of quantum elec- tronics. The book starts with a short review of the history of quantum electronics with. 16:14 World Scientific Book - 9in x 6in ws-book9x6 vi Physical Foundations of Quantum Electronics A large number of general guides in quantum electronics have already been published [Klimontovich. 596224 USA office: 27 Warren Street, Suite 401-402, Hackensack, NJ 07601 UK office: 57 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9HE Printed in Singapore. PHYSICAL FOUNDATIONS OF QUANTUM ELECTRONICS