PHY8191 – The Quantum Theory of Light - Syllabus

Lectures times: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 4pm to 5:30pm

Lecture locations: LMX405
Text: Gerry and Knight, Introductory Quantum Optics
Instructor: Jeff Lundeen

Phone: 613 562 5800 X7637

Office: ARC461
jeff.lundeen@gmail.com
skypename: jefflundeen
Feel free to Skype or Message me anytime. If I am busy I will call back or message later.
This course is identical to the version of PHY5311 that was given in Fall 2014. Students who
took that course are excluded from taking this one.

Course Discussion Forum: https://piazza.com/uottawa.ca/winter2019/phy8191e/home

We will use Piazza for announcements and online discussions. Please follow the link above to
sign up. You can post questions anonymously and embed equations in them. I will wait for
other students to respond first before responding myself. You can find a mobile app for Piazza
at https://piazza.com/product/mobile

Shared Folder: https://1drv.ms/f/s!Aq0evo4DDiAMiplgvndPiHyA6PjXPA

I will post problem sets, solutions, lecture notes and audio here.

Course Summary:
This course introduces the quantum theory of light. It concentrates on the experimental and
theoretical tools and fundamentals behind quantum optics. Topics covered will include
quantization of the electric field, important quantum states of light (e.g. squeezed states, Fock
states, etc.), coherence and interference, quasi-probability representations of optical states,
linear optics (e.g. beam-splitters, phase-shifters), quantum nonlinear optics, and atom-photon
interactions.

My objectives are:
1. To give you the minimal theoretical framework necessary to predict the results of quantum
optical experiments, particularly in the context of quantum information.
2. To enable you to understand the talks given at a quantum optics conference or uOttawa’s
Quantum Photonics seminar series.

Prerequisite knowledge: Upper Year Undergraduate Quantum Mechanics is necessary. You

should understand the quantum harmonic oscillator. You should also be adept at Dirac
Notation (e.g. <ψ|x| ψ >). Some optics background will be helpful. Two good classical optics
books are: Eugene Hecht, Optics; and Saleh and Teich, Fundamentals of Photonics.
Homework:
Biweekly assignments (by email) due at the beginning of Lecture 2 two weeks later. You are
encouraged to discuss the homework problems with your classmates and with me, but you
must write up your solutions independently. Of course, you must not copy from anyone else's
solutions. Late assignments will be docked 30% and are accepted up to the time I hand back
marked assignments. In general, you can use your computer to perform integrals, make plots,
solve equations, etc. for your homework. Just include a printout with your submission. If you do
not have software like Mathematica, Matlab or Maple, then Wolfram Alpha is a good tool to
use. It will diagonalize matrices, for instance.

Quantum Optics Workshop:

At the end of the course, we will have a day-long workshop featuring conference style
presentations from each student. Topics must be approved by me in advance. They should be
on recent directions or results in quantum optics, and be based on published articles in
scientific journals rather than textbook knowledge. They should be aimed at the knowledge
level of your fellow classmates.

Grading:
Homework: 15%
Mid-term: 20%
Presentations: 25%
Final: 40%

Schedule:
Week Week of Lecture 1 Lecture 2 Homework
1 Jan 7 Quantum Maxwell’s Single Photon Polarization None
Equations and Single States
Photon Wavefunctions
2 Jan 14 Transverse Momentum- Time-Frequency Problem Set 1
Position
3 Jan 21 Two-Photon States, Quantization of the Set 1 Due at
Entanglement, Bell’s Electric Field Lecture 2.
Inequality
4 Jan 28 Quadratures, Phase Casimir Effect and the Problem Set 2
Space, Annihilation Lamb Shift
Operator
5 Feb 4 Quantum states of the Quantum states of the Set 2 Due at
EM field 1 EM field 2 Lecture 2.
6 Feb 11 Quantum Optical Midterm Problem Set 3
Detectors
7 Feb 18 Reading Week Reading Week Reading Week
8 Feb 25 Quantum Optics in Phase Quantum Optics in Phase Set 3 Due at
Space 1 Space 2 Lecture 2.
 9 Mar 4 Linear Optics in Quantum Classical and Quantum Problem Set 4
EM Optical Coherence 1
10 Mar 11 Classical and Quantum Nonlinear Quantum Set 4 Due at
Optical Coherence 2 Optics 1 Lecture 2.
11 Mar 18 Nonlinear Quantum Quantum Interferometers Problem Set 5
Optics 2
12 Mar 25 Atoms and Photons 1 Atoms and Photons 2 Set 5 Due at
Lecture 2.
13 April 1 Other Topics All-Day Workshop

Detailed Course Content:

 Quantum Maxwell’s Equations
 Single Photon Wavefunction
o Paraxial Quantum Optics
o Quantum Optical Tunnelling
 Degrees of Freedom of the Single Photon Wavefunction
o Polarization
 Density Matrices, Mixed States, Born Rule, Measurement
 Transformations: Waveplates, Polarizers, Faraday Effect
 Qubits
 Quantum Cryptography
 Geometric Phase
 Universal NOT Gate
 No-Cloning
 Helicity
o Transverse position-momentum
 Fourier Optics: Heisenberg uncertainty principle in action
 OAM modes
 Rail-Model of Optical Quantum Computing
o Time-Frequency
 Wavepackets and the Fourier Transform
 Mach-Zehnder Interferometer, Inteferogram and Power Spectrum
 Time-Bin Encoding
 Two-photon wavefunctions
o EPR paradox
o Entanglement in polarization
o Bell’s Inequality
 Quantization of the Electromagnetic Field (2nd Quantization)
o Free space Hamiltonian: the Harmonic Oscillator
o Solutions to the Quantum Harmonic Oscillator
o Quadratures and Phasor Diagrams
o Creation and Annihilation operators and their properties.
o Examples of modes: Cavity modes, Plane waves, wave-packets.
 o Casimir Effect and the Lamb Shift
 States of the EM field in the number basis and as wavefunctions
o Vacuum State and its properties
o Fock States
o Coherent States
o EPR States
o Thermal States
o Polarization entangled states
 Quantum Optical Detectors
o Intensity Detectors and Examples
o Number resolving detectors and examples
o Homodyne Detectors
o Quantum Non-Demolition Measurements
 Quantum Optics in Phase Space
o Quasi Phase Space Distributions
o Wigner function and its properties
o Q, P and Dirac Distributions
o Time Evolution in Phase Space
o Two and four-mode squeezed states
o Homodyne Quantum State Tomography
o Distributions as calculational tools
o Detection and Processes in Phase Space
 Linear Quantum Optics
o Single Mode: phase-shifters
o Two Mode: Beamplitters, waveplates, Bogulibov Transformations
o General Linear Optics Unitary Transormation
 Optical Coherence
o Classical Optical Coherence
o Hanbury-Brown Twiss Interferometer
o Quantum Optical Coherence
o Mach-Zehnder Interferogram reminder
o Bunching and Anti-Bunching, Super-Bunching
o Poissonian and Super/Sub-Poissonian Light
o Optical vs Quantum Coherence
o Mixed states and coherence
 Non-linear Quantum Optics
o Two-mode amplifier (i.e. the “parametric amplifier”)
o Linear Amplification
o Photon-Pair Generation
o Squeezing (One, two, four mode)
o Frequency Translation
o Kerr Effect (C-PHASE and CNOT gates)
o Strong FWM, unity probability
 o Nonlinear optical vs linear quantum
 Quantum Interferometers
o Wheeler Delayed Choice Experiment
o Interaction Free Measurement
o Hong-Ou-Mandel and Franson Interferometers
o Franson Interferometer
 Atoms and Photons
o Cavity QED
o Jaynes-Cummings model and Dicke model
o Dressed States and the Mollow Triplet
o Spontaneous and Stimulated emission
 Possible Other Topics
o Quantum Metrology (Fisher Information, Cramer Rao Bound)
o Quantum Optics and curved space-time (Hawking radiation, Unruh Effect)