Abstract
Having summarized the fundamental notions of quantum theory in Chap. 1, here we employ the classical Maxwell equations to quantize the electromagnetic field in vacuum. We then consider various quantum states of the field, followed by the discussion of the photon measurement and the information that it can yield. In the last section of this chapter, we develop several quantum mechanical representations of the field, which can be employed to conveniently evaluate the expectation values of various functions of field operators.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Chapter 2
R. Hanbury-Brown and R. Q. Twiss, Correlation between photons in two coherent beams of light, Nature 177, 27 (1956).
R. J. Glauber, The quantum theory of optical coherence, Phys Rev. 130, 2529 (1963)
R. J. Glauber, Coherent and incoherent states of the radiation field, Phys Rev. 131, 2766 (1963).
E. C. G. Sudarshan, Equivalence of semiclassical and quantum mechanical descriptions of statistical light beams, Phys. Rev. Lett. 10, 277 (1963).
L. Mandel and E. Wolf, Coherence properties of optical fields, Rev. Mod. Phys. 37, 231 (1965).
K. E. Cahill and R. J. Glauber, Density operators and quasiprobability distributions, Phys Rev. 177, 1822 (1969).
D. F. Walls, Squeezed states of light, Nature 306, 141 (1983).
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
(2007). Quantum Theory of Radiation. In: Fundamentals of Quantum Optics and Quantum Information. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-34572-5_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-34572-5_2
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-34571-8
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-34572-5
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)