Book Description
Atom-Photon Interactions: Basic Processes and Applications allows the reader to master various aspects of the physics of the interaction between light and matter. It is devoted to the study of the interactions between photons and atoms in atomic and molecular physics, quantum optics, and laser physics. The elementary processes in which photons are emitted, absorbed, scattered, or exchanged between atoms are treated in detail and described using diagrammatic representation. The book presents different theoretical approaches, including:
* Perturbative methods
* The resolvent method
* Use of the master equation
* The Langevin equation
* The optical Bloch equations
* The dressed-atom approach
Each method is presented in a self-contained manner so that it may be studied independently. Many applications of these approaches to simple and important physical phenomena are given to illustrate the potential and limitations of each method.
Customer Reviews:
Very useful.......2000-06-26
Atom Photon Interactions is an excellent text for atomic and optical physics. I refer back to the review material---transition amplitudes, quantum electrodynamic fundamentals, etc--- over and over again. Naturally, these sections are very brief, and the book works best along side Cohen-Tannoudji's more elementary texts Quantum Mechanics and Photons and Atoms, or their equivalents.
The later chapters are rich in techniques and intuition applicable to atom-trapping, spectroscopy, laser theory, etc. Cohen-Tannoudji covers a lot of material, and manages to link it all to a few basic fundamental principles. The book is extremely well-organized, with bite-sized sections and appendices to each chapter. An excellent collection of exercises with solutions is included in the back. Unfortunately, the text does not prompt the reader to try working these problems at appropriate times (sadly, I didn't realize the exercises were there until I'd been using the book for some time). Like Photons and Atoms, this is primarily a book for theorists; its one weakness, I feel, is that the principles, however clear, never seem connected to the actual numbers that an experimentalist or system designer can relate to.
Book Description
Celebrated for his brilliantly quirky insights into the physical world, Nobel laureate Richard Feynman also possessed an extraordinary talent for explaining difficult concepts to the general public. Here Feynman provides a classic and definitive introduction to QED (namely quantum electrodynamics), that part of quantum field theory describing the interactions of light with charged particles. Using everyday language, spatial concepts, visualizations, and his renowned "Feynman diagrams" instead of advanced mathematics, Feynman clearly and humorously communicates both the substance and spirit of QED to the layperson. A. Zee's new introduction places both Feynman's book and his seminal contribution to QED in historical context and further highlights Feynman's uniquely appealing and illuminating style.
Customer Reviews:
A wonderful little book!.......2007-07-15
In his Introduction to this wonderful "extra-difficult popular book ", A.Zee divides its prospective readers in three groups:1)-students who might be inspired by this book to go on and master QED.2)- intelligent laypersons curious about QED and 3)-professional physicists. Personally, I fall between groups 1 and 2: I have been a "student" of physics all my life, but at the same time I'm just a "layperson", since physics is not my specialty.
Having said that, I consider that Feynman has succeeded in conveying the basic ideas of QED to the "intelligent layperson", but I also believe that very few laypersons will finish reading this book. On the other hand, whoever finishes reading it properly, "mulling over each sentence carefully", would end up having a correct understanding of QED. And Feynman accomplishes this feat without once mentioning fermions, bosons or leptons! He makes an exception for baryons, though!
Of course, things would become much easier when the reader has some mathematical background, like knowing what vectors and complex numbers are. Then he or she will know how to add two "Feynman arrows" without there being any need to tell him or her to "attach the head of one arrow to the tail of another". The reader would also know that "shrinking and turning" is nothing but the multiplication of two complex numbers!
There is also one thing I would like to point out about Feynman's remark at page 15 regarding the behavior of light as particles("I'm telling you the way it does behave-like particles.")Those little Feynman arrows, turning and stopping between two points of a path, why do they turn at different speeds for different colors? Neither Feynman nor QED tells us anything about it, and it remains a mystery. For me, those arrows are nothing but the old "Fresnel vectors", that are used to represent a sinusoidal function of time in old classical physics. The length of the vector is the amplitude of the sinewave, and its projection on the reference axis gives the value of that function at any given time. As for the angular speed of rotation, it is the frequency of that sinewave times 2 pi. I cannot understand light or electromagnetic fields without this concept of frequency, and consequently of wavelength: this is why the stopwatch turns faster for blue than for red light. Besides, waves are used in Quantum Field Theories to represent all elementary particles, so why not photons as well? And what happened to the old W=h.c/lambda, if there be no more lambda?And how does one explain the Doppler effect and the cosmological redshift without a wave? Feynman probably would have been able to find an explanation of these effects without resorting to the wave concept, but there are very few Feynmans around...So dear reader, if you know how to explain the Doppler shift without using waves, please let me know!
All in all, this book is a must read for all those who are curious about modern physics, but who cannot understand the "real thing", with all its details and equations. This is why I strongly recommend it.
Finally understood refraction.......2007-04-17
When I was a senior in high school, I asked my physics teacher why light bent when it entered a lens. He responded with an analogy about soldiers marching on a field and entering a marsh. The first soldiers entering the marsh would slow down and "bend" the column until all the soldiers were in the marsh.
The analogy made no sense to me because we were talking about light, not soldiers. He responded that light travels in waves and if I viewed the soldiers as a wave front, I could understand his analogy. I left the conversation feeling very stupid for not "getting it." and thinking the analogy had so many holes in it. For example, it didn't explain why the lens was a marsh as far as light goes.
It wasn't until I read QED that I realized I didn't get the soldier analogy because my teacher was wrong - light doesn't travel in waves, it travels in discrete little packets called photons.
In QED, Feynman opens his first chapter by saying a couple of things. First he tells you that the theory he's going to describe to you has been experimentally verified out to 10 decimal places so it's probably right. He then gives you a quick review of what matter is and then tells you "light comes in particles. Not waves, particles." No wavicles, just little bits of light. He tells you that photons go from place to place, an electron goes from place to place and the electron will sometimes either absorb or emit a photon. From that basis, the rest of the book shows how that model explains why light bends when it enters a lens, why mirrors reflect, why oil slicks show different colors, why peacock feathers iridesce along a with host of other phenomena. He also explains why light has wave-like properties despite the fact that light comes in packets.
The first reviewer is right - there are questions left unanswered but that doesn't diminish the book. The framework Feynman develops in four chapters gives you a clear mental image of what's going on. Bohr and Pauli disliked Feynman's approach because it violated the Copenhagen approach of eschewing all models. In their view, only mathematics would suffice to understand quantum mechanics. I for one, am very glad Feynman ignored them, developed his approach and eventually gave the 4 lectures that are the basis of the book.
If you think light travels in waves, read this book. It's truly wonderful. If you're as dumb as I am, you'll have to read it multiple times but it's definitely worth it.
I want to love this book but can't.......2007-04-11
Yes the book explains QED without any math, but it doesn't really explain it very well. I admire what Feynman is trying to do, but I don't believe he succeeds. I'll give one example. The book is built around using vector addition and multiplication to show how to come up with probability sums and products. So far so good. The problem is that we never get an explanation for why the vectors point the way the do, are rotated just so, etc. Without that it's simply voodoo, and nothing has been explained.
It's not that you'd need math for any of that. You wouldn't. It's not the lack of math that leaves the reader in the dark, it's simply Feynman's not having the time to elaborate given the lecture format. Twenty pages on how waves work and reinforce and cancel etc. would at least provide the frame work for understanding more or less what is going on in the vector spinning.
Feynman certainly made an amazing use of the time he had in the brief lecture series the book is drawn from, but unfortuantely a brief lecture series aimed at the scientifically illiterate is just not a reasonable forum for presenting even a very basic understanding of QED.
Very readable........2007-03-19
Unlike Feynman's lecture series, you'll be able understand every word of the first two of the books three sections. Is a great feeling to understand Feynman.
Quantum mechanics for the intelligent layman.......2007-02-17
This book has to be the ultimate proof that if you really understand something, you can explain it to anyone willing to listen carefully.
Most people would agree that Quantum Mechanics is the most complex idea ever. Here, the idea is presented accurately, but without any scientific or mathematical jargon. It's just amazing that this is possible.
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Coherence and Statistics of Photons and Atoms
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ASIN: 0471388610 |
Book Description
Up-to-date, expert new research in quantum optics and its applications
Coherence and Statistics of Photons and Atoms provides cutting-edge research in modern quantum optics and complete information about systems of interacting photons and atoms based on the quantum statistical properties of such systems. Editor Jan Perina has collected eleven articles from experts around the world to illuminate the changing science of quantum optics and push the development of new, more powerful, applications such as quantum cryptography, quantum computation, and quantum teleportation.
Recent articles highlight the most interesting directions in the development of contemporary quantum optics with important consequences for other physical sciences and their applications. The first chapter presents a basic analysis of quantum electrodynamics, including cavities, followed by chapters devoted to properties of photons and atoms and their interactions in quantum computers. Other articles cover these vital subjects:
* Nonlinear quantum couplers
* Internal correlations in optical pulses
* Detection and reconstruction of quantum states from the point of view of quantum information
* Quantum interference, coherence, and correlation
* Quantum information and teleportation
* Interaction of atoms with squeezed reservoirs
* Quantum statistics and coherence of trapped atoms
* Dynamics of systems of atoms
Coherence and Statistics of Photons and Atoms extends earlier treatments to include up-to-date results and organizes them into a form suitable for further research in the fundamental concepts of quantum optics and in new optical applications. Comprehensive discussions of preparation, transmission, detection, and reconstruction of quantum states, as well as in-depth coverage of quantum computing, make this the most complete source of new information available to students and professionals.
Book Description
Famous the world over for the creative brilliance of his insights into the physical world, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman also possessed an extraordinary talent for explaining difficult concepts to the nonscientist. QED--the edited version of four lectures on quantum electrodynamics that Feynman gave to the general public at UCLA as part of the Alix G. Mautner Memorial Lecture series--is perhaps the best example of his ability to communicate both the substance and the spirit of science to the layperson.
The focus, as the title suggests, is quantum electrodynamics (QED), the part of the quantum theory of fields that describes the interactions of the quanta of the electromagnetic field-light, X rays, gamma rays--with matter and those of charged particles with one another. By extending the formalism developed by Dirac in 1933, which related quantum and classical descriptions of the motion of particles, Feynman revolutionized the quantum mechanical understanding of the nature of particles and waves. And, by incorporating his own readily visualizable formulation of quantum mechanics, Feynman created a diagrammatic version of QED that made calculations much simpler and also provided visual insights into the mechanisms of quantum electrodynamic processes.
In this book, using everyday language, spatial concepts, visualizations, and his renowned "Feynman diagrams" instead of advanced mathematics, Feynman successfully provides a definitive introduction to QED for a lay readership without any distortion of the basic science. Characterized by Feynman's famously original clarity and humor, this popular book on QED has not been equaled since its publication.
Customer Reviews:
Mind-blowing.......2006-12-10
Feynman makes it easy for the curious amateur to understand. This book is accessible and mind-blowing. Everyone should read it. And there is little if any math so don't be intimidated.
Just the facts, Ma'am.......2006-08-07
In the Introduction to the 'Strange Theory of Light and Matter' Feynman tells us that what he likes to talk about is the "part of physics that is known, rather than a part that is unknown." And he goes on to give us a thumbnail sketch, a "physicist's history of physics," which shows how physicist's, in their quest to describe the world, continually reduce a group of seemingly unrelated phenomenon to a single phenomenon. So heat and sound were found, thanks to Newton, to be reducible to laws of motion, while electricity, magnetism and light were reducible to Maxwell's electromagnetic wave. In this way physicist's explain the world.
Here one is almost tempted to say that they proceed much as religion and ideology do. Religion has from the beginning of recorded history been taking phenomenon and feelings, like storms and suffering or aging and despair, and molding them into an internally coherent explanation of all that is and was and will be. They do this by separating the relevant from the incidental, then uncovering the essential by excluding the accidental. They simplify. In similar ways ideologues like the communists take what at one time were discreet incidents and disparate facts (for instance, the poverty of the third world and imperialism) and weave them into a grand general explanation. Is science merely the latest avatar of religion? - Or perhaps it is an ideology without tears?
Not so fast! Feynman goes on to show us that attempts to explain the atomic world foundered on the laws of motion. He shows us that the rescue of those shipwrecked on the shoals of classical theory involved the invention of a new, counter-intuitive theory, Quantum Mechanics. He then goes on, while discussing a small portion of that theory, to give us the (deliberately) hilarious and 'absurd' example of how physicists predict how many photons, out of a given number, will be reflected back from a surface. 'Draw little arrows on a piece of paper' and watch the clock, he tells us. And with no explanation as to why this procedure works! Of course, for physics, what matters is that it does work. Physicists have been forced "away from making absolute predictions to merely calculating the probability of an event." But where is the essential, the eternal, the necessary?
Perhaps this is what Feynman is driving at. Science describes, it doesn't explain why. We should all wonder at that. The great 'philosophical' questions that drive theology and political ideology are beyond the purview of physics. Science doesn't create worlds; nor does it 'interpret' or change them, it simply describes what it finds. (It is technology that changes the world.) Freud saw fit to end one of his books by saying that 'our science is no illusion, but it would be an illusion to believe you can find elsewhere what it does not offer.' But how much truer this is of physics! One is then perhaps not surprised to come away from this little book wondering exactly what the status of philosophy, psychoanalysis, politics and religion would be in a genuinely scientific world.
But of course there will never be, given human irrationality, an entirely scientific human culture. This book is a superb introduction to quantum electrodynamics. It's 'experimentalism' and agnosticism towards grand philosophical explanations I found very congenial and convincing. Feynman is an engaging personality and this is an entertaining book. While one doesn't need a degree in physics and math to understand him a lay competence and interest in math and physics is certainly necessary. For those of us still living in a Newtonian world, a dwindling number to be sure, this book will have several surprising moments. But that really is part of the show!
The shortest, clearest and "most physical" description of quantum theory without compromise in the accuracy.......2006-01-21
I had read a few books on quantium physics before, some are serious textbooks, and some are books for general readers, without even a single equation. This book, catagorized as the latter case, is the shortest, clearest and "most physical" description I've ever read.
It really tells you what the physicsts are doing behind the equations. I felt I solved many of the puzzles I had before, especially the intuitive meaning of the wave function and how the amplitudes really combine "visually".
It's a must read if you have tried other books on quantum theory but get confused (which I think is very likely). One major difference of this book from other books is Feynman didn't try to invent analogous but confusing things to explain difficult concepts. He really introduces you the subject itself.
Whew! Worth the effort..........2005-12-23
Feynman believed that if you truly understand a concept than you should be able to express it in a way that any educated person can understand it. Thus you have a smallish book (based on lectures) on some of the most obtuse subjects in physics in a way that is entertaining, readable, and understandable.
This is no "Surely You're Joking Mr. Feynman" (if you haven't read it you should...) but still shows his wit and curiosity. One reason I think the book is so good is that he was instrumental in working out many of the ideas he presents so he's not just repeating someone else's work.
The concepts can be hard to grasp but the book is well worth the trouble.
Feynman's Nobel prize winning subject, QED........2005-09-15
This book is basically a transcript of a series of lectures Professor Feynman gave at UCLA and in New Zealand. The lectures were given at the University of Auckland in New Zealand because Feynman wanted to "try out" the lectures on people far from home to see if they would work. [...] The book QED attempts successfully to give the reader an idea of how light works at a fundamental level and is actually very weird and untuitive due to our inherited and evolved senses and perception. Feynman preps the reader to anticipate these very strange unintuitive scientific findings and goes on to explain them very well.
Book Description
This elementary introduction to the subject of quantum optics, the study of the quantum mechanical nature of light and its interaction with matter, is almost entirely concerned with the quantized electromagnetic field. The text is designed for upper-level undergraduates taking courses in quantum optics who have already taken a course in quantum mechanics, and for first- and second- year graduate students.
Customer Reviews:
Useful, but could be much better with substantial revision.......2005-10-13
I am a mathematician who is very familiar with electrodynamics and quantum mechanics.
I read this book to teach myself quantum optics.
Since I read it as a self-study text,
I will review it from that perspective.
Some of the weaknesses noted might be less important for a classroom text.
The Gerry/Knight text is billed as suitable for
"senior undergraduates and beginning postgraduates", but
I fear that undergraduates who attempt it as a self-study text
are likely to end up frustrated.
I can't recall ever encountering an undergraduate with a background in mathematics and quantum mechanics
sufficient to read this book in a reasonable time without the guidance of an instructor.
If used for self-study, I think that minimal prerequisites
would be a graduate level understanding of abstract linear algebra and quantum mechanics.
Some familiarity with Fock space and the theory of operators on infinite-dimensional Hilbert spaces would be desirable.
Because the book is intended for beginners,
the authors take pains to explain many things which a beginner might not know.
Most of the explanations were careful and helpful, but I was dissatisfied with some.
I read the book cover to cover and was able to follow most of it,
but some of it (e.g, much of the chapter on decoherence)
is still a mystery to me.
Chapter 9 describes recent experiments in quantum optics which
demonstrate amazing properties of light unimaginable from a classical perspective.
The presentations of the physical setups give just the right amount of detail for clear understanding.
The diagrams are good.
However, I felt that the mathematical analyses would be easier
for those with good backgrounds if done on a higher level,
and some of the physical discussions seemed obscure.
Given the authors' intended audience,
it may be unreasonable to quarrel with their choice of mathematical level.
However, it is truly unfortunate that some of
their calculational details seem actually wrong.
For example, in Section 9.3's discussion of a ``quantum eraser'',
several terms appear to be omitted from equation (9.21),
which invalidates some of the subsequent discussion.
Moreover, the discussion is obscure and seems of questionable validity even were the text's (9.21) correct.
More details can be found on my website.
I noticed only a few errors which would affect the physics,
but there are too many mathematical errors and
an unusually large number of typos.
Most of the typos are relatively insignificant,
but nevertheless distracting.
Readers should be prepared to check everything.
My copy is by now riddled with underlined statements with marginal notes
like "Why?", or "What does this mean?"
As I progressed through the book and my understanding deepened,
many of these "Why's" were erased, but quite a few remain.
The reader who wants to learn quantum optics and has
the necessary mathematical background may wish that
parts of the book were more carefully written,
but he will not be fundamentally disappointed.
This is a good book from which I learned a lot.
It seems much clearer than Scully and Zubairy's
Quantum Optics, which I read previously.
My brand new paperback copy is falling apart after only a few weeks of careful use at home.
A book this good deserves a more durable binding.
Book 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.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Introduction to Quantum Optics.......2007-05-10
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.
Book Description
Quantum physicists study the nature of light. The Bible speaks of light when talking about God. Near-death experiences describe going to a light that is welcoming, intelligent, and loving. Strangest of all, however, is the similarity of all these descriptions of the nature, presence, and behavior of light to descriptions of the nature of God.
Could it be that light and God are one in the same? Physician Lee Baumann makes a case for exactly that. From many sources, Dr. Baumann has synthesized a compelling picture of what may be the true nature of our universe at all levels- physical, mental, and spiritual.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Explanation.......2006-09-03
Dr. Baumann has presented a difficult topic in an understandable way.
This is a book to study not a quick read through -- if you are truly interested in the subject. rr
This was just what I was looking for........2005-09-06
I had been looking for a book that specifically corelated the scientific structure and nature of light with spirituality. This book did just that. Don't expect an intensly dry scientific, deeply scholarly approach. The book is fairly simple and to the point, but it makes it's point in a clear, readable, straigtforward way. By addressing near death experiences, quantam studies of light, and the cosmological anthropic priciple Baumann makes a case for the existence of God, spirituality, and its immanent proximity to our experience. He does a little Biblical apologetics that is OK, but a tad fundamental for me. Overall I genuinely enjoyed and appreciated this book and would strongly recommend it to those looking into this subject.
Make up your own mind.......2005-06-07
Don't judge this book by the negative reviews. Dr. Baumann has an idea that he documents with scientific data. He is not seeking converts but giving you new ways to look at old ideas. If you are totally opposed to any notion of God, don't bother reading it. Because I found it a fascinating read, doesn't mean I am invoking the supernatural. R. Phillips, MD
Why do we always have to invoke the Supernatural?.......2004-09-15
Richard Dawkins wrote the following 3 books, which completely and UNIMPEACHABLY demonstrated that complex life as we see today could have appeared, and in fact did appear and evolve, here on earth without invoking any intervention from a being more developed than we are (thus no God, Witchcraft, UFO's, magic, intervention, or anything more advanced than we are). Why is this so hard for people to grasp? The 3 Dawkins books are (selfish gene; blind watchmaker; and devil's chaplain).
On another very related note, I recently read a book which was written by a neurosurgeon/neurobiologist called "A brief tour of human consciousness", which very well explains the limitations of our sensory perception organs (eyes, ears, etc). An appearance of "light", or the appearance of feeling or movement of an appendage which has been missing for a long time, is a very limited perception (affixes on about 1.5-3.0% of brain. Even more damaging for this view is that since we can only detect a portion of the visible spectrum (i.e. so far ultraviolet and infrared are mostly undetectible). However, If anyone who digs this book wants to worship "light" as being "God", I am all for anything that gets people thinking.
Personally, for me, if I was to ever accept a God, it would be the rulemaker himselve (i.e. the speed of light is constant, so is gravity, energy and matter are interchangeable in our universe, dark matter prevents the universe from expanding exponentially into nothingness). Please some scientist e-mail me and tell me why there aren't 28 colors instead of the R.O.Y. G. B.I.V. 7 that we have always been taught? How do we know if we don't see them? Why are we so sure that for instance radio waves are not visible if our eyes were only more discriminating?
I wonder if string theory posits completely different bubble universes with differing rules?
Summary: Please understand that "bright lights" will appear anywhere a person is dying at less than an instantaneous death, and the bright light is merely the inability to see anything at the edges of a focused beam.
Geoff Simmons, M.D.. What Darwin Didn't Know.......2004-07-28
Worthwhile read. I found the first half a little heavy in the physics and sometimes hard to follow, but the bottom line was always readily apparent. The second half was particularly worthwhile. It does make one think about light, Schroeder's theories and how scientists truly are at a loss to explain it's quirky behavior and ubiquitous presence.
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The Basics of Spectroscopy (SPIE Tutorial Texts in Optical Engineering Vol. TT49)
David W. Ball
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Book Description
Spectroscopy--the study of matter using electromagnetic radiation--and its applications as a scientific tool are the focus of this tutorial. Topics covered include the interaction of light with matter, spectrometer fundamentals, quantum mechanics, selection rules, and experimental factors.
Book Description
The aim of this book is twofold: to provide a comprehensive account of the foundations of the theory and to outline a theoretical and philosophical interpretation suggested from the results of the last twenty years.
There is a need to provide an account of the foundations of the theory because recent experience has largely confirmed the theory and offered a wealth of new discoveries and possibilities. On the other side, the following results have generated a new basis for discussing the problem of the interpretation: the new developments in measurement theory; the experimental generation of "Schrödinger cats"; recent developments which allow, for the first time, the simultaneous measurement of complementary observables; quantum information processing, teleportation and computation.
To accomplish this task, the book combines historical, systematic and thematic approaches.
Book Description
Laser cooling allows one to slow atoms to roughly the speed of a mosquito and to control their motions with unprecedented precision. This elegant technique, whereby atoms, molecules, and even microscopic beads of glass, can be trapped in small regions of free space by beams of light and subsequently moved at will using other beams, has revolutionized many areas of physics. In particular, it provides a useful research tool for the study of individual atoms, for investigating the details of chemical reactions, and even for the study of atomic motion in the quantum domain. This text begins with a review of the relevant aspects of quantum mechanics; it then turns to the electromagnetic interactions involved in slowing and trapping atoms, in both magnetic and optical traps. The concluding chapters discuss a broad range of applications, including atomic clocks, studies of ultra-cold collision processes, diffraction and interference of atomic beams, optical lattices, and Bose-Einstein condensation. The book is intended for advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students who have some basic knowledge of optics and quantum mechanics. An extensive bibliography provides access to the current research literature.
Customer Reviews:
Great book to get a good understanding of laser cooling........2000-06-15
Laser cooling and trapping techniques have given researchers new tools to explore the atom's dynamics and control. The book gives a good introduction to the forces that arise when an atom interacts with a light (laser) field, and puts a lot of emphasis on giving the reader an excellent idea of what's going on when atoms and photons interact.
Rather than giving all the details of the mathematical and quantum mechanics background that is needed to understand the subject the authors concentrate on giving a clearer picture of the real physics involved.
The book starts with a review of the quantum mechanics principles used to understand laser cooling and trapping, which serves as a good remainder for a person who already has a basic grasp of it.
Although all the mathematical analysis that shows how the formulas and mathematical expressions are derived is not done in the book, the presentation is sufficient to guide the readers interested in it do the work by themselves.
The book also has an excellent reference guide that an interested person can use to get all the mathematical and experimental details on the field.
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- Biomaterials Science, Second Edition: An Introduction to Materials in Medicine
- Capillarity and Wetting Phenomena: Drops, Bubbles, Pearls, Waves
- Classical Dynamics of Particles and Systems
- Classical Dynamics of Particles and Systems
- Classical Dynamics of Particles and Systems
- Classical Dynamics of Particles and Systems
- Computational Physics (2nd Edition)
- Conceptual Physics
- Conformal Field Theory (Graduate Texts in Contemporary Physics)
- Contemporary College Physics, Third Edition, 2001 Update w/ updated CD-ROM
Books Index
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