Description
Book SynopsisWhat happens to light when it is trapped in a box?
Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics addresses a fascinating question in physics: what happens to light, and in particular to its interaction with matter, when it is trapped inside a box? With the aid of a model-building approach, readers discover the answer to this question and come to appreciate its important applications in computing, cryptography, quantum teleportation, and opto-electronics. Instead of taking a traditional approach that requires readers to first master a series of seemingly unconnected mathematical techniques, this book engages the readers'' interest and imagination by going straight to the point, introducing the mathematics along the way as needed. Appendices are provided for the additional mathematical theory.
Researchers, scientists, and students of modern physics can refer to Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics and examine the field thoroughly. Several key topics covered that readers cannot find in any other q
Table of ContentsPreface.
Acknowledgments.
1. Introduction.
2. Fiat Lux!
3. The Photon's Wavefunction.
4. A Box of Photons.
5. Let Matter Be!
6. Spontaneous Emission.
7. Macroscopic QED.
8. The Maser, the Laser, and their Cavity-QED Cousins.
9. Open Cavities.
Appendix A: Perfect Cavity Modes.
Appendix B: Perfect Cavity Boundary Conditions.
Appendix C: Quaternions and Special Relativity.
Appendix D: The Baker-Hausdorff Formula.
Appendix E: Vectors and Vector Identities.
Appendix F: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
References.
Index.
