Full Description
Atom-Photon Interactions: Basic Processes and Applications allows the reader to master various aspects of the physics of the interaction between light and matter. It is devoted to the study of the interactions between photons and atoms in atomic and molecular physics, quantum optics, and laser physics. The elementary processes in which photons are emitted, absorbed, scattered, or exchanged between atoms are treated in detail and described using diagrammatic representation. The book presents different theoretical approaches, including:
* Perturbative methods
* The resolvent method
* Use of the master equation
* The Langevin equation
* The optical Bloch equations
* The dressed-atom approach
Each method is presented in a self-contained manner so that it may be studied independently. Many applications of these approaches to simple and important physical phenomena are given to illustrate the potential and limitations of each method.
Contents
Introduction 1 CHAPTER 1 Transition Amplitudes in Electrodynamics 5
CHAPTER 2 A Survey of Some Interaction Processes Between Photons and Atoms 67
CHAPTER 3 Nonperturbative Calculation of Transition Amplitudes 165
CHAPTER 4 Radiation Considered as a Reservoir: Master Equation for the Particles 257
CHAPTER 5 Optical Bloch Equations 353
CHAPTER 6 The Dressed Atom Approach 407
Appendix 621
References 641
Index 645
