Quantum optics

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The quantum optics , historically and Quantum Electronics , is a branch of physics that deals with the interaction between light and matter is concerned. In contrast to classical optics, the subject of quantum optics is the generation, propagation, manipulation and detection of light in situations in which the granular nature of light as determined by the quantum hypothesis cannot be neglected.

According to the quantum hypothesis , light has both the typical characteristics of a wave and a swarm of particles. The elementary particles of such a swarm are called photons . A single photon has an energy of hf , with Planck's quantum of action  h and the frequency  f .

Questions in quantum optics concern atomic physics , molecular physics and the physics of structured solids. The models and findings of quantum optics are used in laser physics , semiconductor physics , photonics and quantum chemistry .

Experiments

Experiments in quantum optics investigate the interaction between light and matter .

The laser has proven to be an almost ideal light source for experiments because it is extremely monochromatic and coherent .

From the 1990s onwards, quantum optics attracted particular attention in connection with experiments on quantum physics and on quantum computers . The 2012 Nobel Prize in Physics, Serge Haroche and David Wineland , demonstrated the validity of the quantum mechanical fundamentals ( linear superposability of quantum mechanical states , as well as “state projection” as a result of quantum measurements ) even for ( non-destructive! ) Measurements on individual objects.

Other keywords that illuminate the large number of aspects of the area include:

• Laser cooling
• Magneto-optical trap
• Bose-Einstein condensate
• Atomic interferometer
• Photon statistics ( photon bunching , photon antibunching )
• Interference of a single photon with itself
• Laser spectroscopy
• Quantum computer
• Quantum cryptography
• Schrödinger's Cat

literature

• Harry Paul : Photons. An introduction to quantum optics . 2nd Edition. Teubner, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-519-13222-2 ( table of contents )

Web links

Wiktionary: quantum optics  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

• QuantumLab - experiments with single photons: entanglement, quantum cryptography, quantum random , ...
• Rainer Blatt: Lecture notes Experiments in Quantum Optics (2003) ( Memento from October 16, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
• An introduction to quantum optics of the light field