Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Elements of probability theory
- 2 Random (or stochastic) processes
- 3 Some useful mathematical techniques
- 4 Second-order coherence theory of scalar wavefields
- 5 Radiation from sources of any state of coherence
- 6 Second-order coherence theory of vector electromagnetic fields
- 7 Some applications of second-order coherence theory
- 8 Higher-order correlations in optical fields
- 9 Semiclassical theory of photoelectric detection of light
- 10 Quantization of the free electromagnetic field
- 11 Coherent states of the electromagnetic field
- 12 Quantum correlations and photon statistics
- 13 Radiation from thermal equilibrium sources
- 14 Quantum theory of photoelectric detection of light
- 15 Interaction between light and a two-level atom
- 16 Collective atomic interactions
- 17 Some general techniques for treating interacting systems
- 18 The single-mode laser
- 19 The two-mode ring laser
- 20 The linear light amplifier
- 21 Squeezed states of light
- 22 Some quantum effects in nonlinear optics
- References
- Author index
- Subject index
12 - Quantum correlations and photon statistics
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 April 2013
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Elements of probability theory
- 2 Random (or stochastic) processes
- 3 Some useful mathematical techniques
- 4 Second-order coherence theory of scalar wavefields
- 5 Radiation from sources of any state of coherence
- 6 Second-order coherence theory of vector electromagnetic fields
- 7 Some applications of second-order coherence theory
- 8 Higher-order correlations in optical fields
- 9 Semiclassical theory of photoelectric detection of light
- 10 Quantization of the free electromagnetic field
- 11 Coherent states of the electromagnetic field
- 12 Quantum correlations and photon statistics
- 13 Radiation from thermal equilibrium sources
- 14 Quantum theory of photoelectric detection of light
- 15 Interaction between light and a two-level atom
- 16 Collective atomic interactions
- 17 Some general techniques for treating interacting systems
- 18 The single-mode laser
- 19 The two-mode ring laser
- 20 The linear light amplifier
- 21 Squeezed states of light
- 22 Some quantum effects in nonlinear optics
- References
- Author index
- Subject index
Summary
Introduction
We have now prepared the way for a quantum treatment of problems that are of interest in optics. We have examined some basic properties of the quantized field and have explored the coherent-state representation and some of its virtues. Until now our discussions have been essentially formal; we have not concerned ourselves with what is actually measured in the laboratory, nor with questions concerning the interactions of the quantized field with other systems.
In the following sections we shall turn our attention to some of the quantum field theoretic quantities that are of particular interest in quantum optics and are of significance in the measurement of the field. Our discussions in this chapter will still be somewhat formal, in that we shall not yet come to grips with the problem of the interaction of the field with the apparatus. That problem will be tackled in Chapter 14. For the moment we shall continue to oversimplify and treat the field as a free field. However, within the idealized context of the free field we shall examine some of the questions encountered in measurements in quantum optics. We shall see that normally ordered correlations play a dominant role and examine some of their properties. Anti-normally ordered correlations will be seen to arise in much less common and less useful measurements of the field. We shall also examine the sense in which a photon may be said to be localized in a measurement in which a photoelectric emission is registered.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Optical Coherence and Quantum Optics , pp. 573 - 658Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1995