Zbigniew Ficek - Böcker

This book brings together and discusses for the first time detailed analyses of the experiments with trapped ions, experiments on quantum beats, coherent population trapping, electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT), electromagnetically induced absorption, creation of dark-states polaritons, subluminal and superluminal light, realization of a Fock state, and interference experiments in atom optics on atom grating, momentum distribution, and atom tunneling. This book is unique in many respects and will fill a gap in the literature.

This book brings together and discusses for the first time detailed analyses of the experiments with trapped ions, experiments on quantum beats, coherent population trapping, electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT), electromagnetically induced absorption, creation of dark-states polaritons, subluminal and superluminal light, realization of a Fock state, and interference experiments in atom optics on atom grating, momentum distribution, and atom tunneling. This book is unique in many respects and will fill a gap in the literature.

This book covers the main ideas, methods, and recent developments of quantum-limit optical spectroscopy and applications to quantum information, resolution spectroscopy, measurements beyond quantum limits, measurement of decoherence, and entanglement. Quantum-limit spectroscopy lies at the frontier of current experimental and theoretical techniques, and is one of the areas of atomic spectroscopy where the quantization of the field is essential to predict and interpret the existing experimental results. Currently, there is an increasing interest in quantum and precision spectroscopy both theoretically and experimentally, due to significant progress in trapping and cooling of single atoms and ions. This progress allows one to explore in the most intimate detail the ways in which light interacts with atoms and to measure spectral properties and quantum effects with high precision. Moreover, it allows one to perform subtle tests of quantum mechanics on the single atom and single photonscale which were hardly even imaginable as ``thought experiments'' a few years ago.

This book covers the main ideas, methods, and recent developments of quantum-limit optical spectroscopy and applications to quantum information, resolution spectroscopy, measurements beyond quantum limits, measurement of decoherence, and entanglement.

The subject of this book is the new field of squeezing in quantum fields. This general area includes all types of systems in which quantum fluctuations are reduced below those in the normal vacuum state. The book covers the main currently known techniques of generating squeezed photon fields, together with some treatment of matter field squeezing. Both theory and experiments are covered, together with applications to communications and measurement. The chapters of the book are written by the foremost international experts in the field, and their coverage extends from general introductory material, to the most recent developments.

The concept of squeezing is intimately related to the idea of vacuum fluctu­ ations, once thought to place an absolute limit to the accuracy of measure­ ment. However, vacuum fluctuations are not unchangeable. By recognizing that these quantum fluctuations always occur in two complementary observ­ ables, physicists have been able to make an intriguing trade-off. Reduced fluctuations in one variable can be realized - at the expense of increased fluctuations in another, according to Heisenberg. This Heisenberg 'horse-trade' - originally predicted by theorists - was first accomplished experimentally by R. Slusher in 1985. Since then, the var­ ious techniques and applications of quantum squeezing have metamorphosed into a central tool in the wider field of quantum information. This book is a summary of the main ideas, methods and applications of quantum squeezing, written by those responsible for some of the chief developments in the field. The book is divided into three parts, to recognize that there are three areas in this research. These are the fundamental physics of quantum fluc­ tuations, the techniques of generating squeezed radiation, and the potential applications. Part I of the book, giving the fundamentals, is arranged as follows. • Chapter 1 introduces the basic ideas about what squeezing of quantum fluctuations is from the quantized free-field perspective. This chapter es­ tablishes the definitions and notations used throughout. • Chapter 2 explains how to quantize radiation in a dielectric, which is the basic technique that is used to make squeezed radiation.

Atomic correlations have been studied in physics for over 50 years and known as collective effects until recently when they came to be recognized as a source of entanglement. This is the first book that contains detailed and comprehensive analysis of two currently extensively studied subjects of atomic and quantum physics—atomic correlations and their relations to entanglement between atoms or atomic systems—along with the newest developments in these fields. This book assembles accounts of many phenomena related to or resulting from atomic correlations. The essential language of the book is in terms of density matrices and master equations that provide detailed theoretical treatments and experimental analysis of phenomena such as entanglement between atoms, spontaneously or externally induced atomic coherence, engineering of atomic correlations, storage and controlled transfer of correlations, and dynamics of correlated systems.

Readers studying the abstract field of quantum physics need to solve plenty of practical, especially quantitative, problems. This book contains tutorial problems with solutions for the textbook Quantum Physics for Beginners. It places emphasis on basic problems of quantum physics together with some instructive, simulating, and useful applications. A considerable range of complexity is presented by these problems, and not too many of them can be solved using formulas alone.