This course introduces the quantum theory of electromagnetic radiation and its interaction with matter, covering fundamental concepts in quantum optics, cavity quantum electrodynamics, superconducting quantum circuits, and quantum measurements, with applications in modern quantum technologies.
Course Details
| Language | English |
| Duration | 13 weeks |
| Effort | 4-6 hours / week |
Description
This course provides a comprehensive introduction to quantum electrodynamics and quantum optics, developing the quantum theory of electromagnetic radiation and its interaction with matter.
Starting from the quantization of the electromagnetic field, the course explores the fundamental quantum states of light, including Fock states, coherent states, and squeezed states. It introduces methods for characterizing and measuring quantum light, including phase-space representations, homodyne detection, photon counting, and photon correlation measurements.
The course then examines light–matter interactions and cavity quantum electrodynamics, including strong coupling, the dispersive regime, and the Purcell effect. Particular attention is given to superconducting quantum circuits, including Josephson junctions, transmon qubits, and circuit quantization.
Finally, the course introduces the principles of quantum measurements, quantum noise, measurement backaction, and quantum-limited detection. Numerical simulations of open quantum systems using Python-based quantum optics tools complement the theoretical concepts.
The course connects these fundamental principles to modern applications in quantum computing, quantum communication, and quantum metrology.
What you will learn
- Understand the quantization of electromagnetic fields and distinguish between classical and quantum properties of light.
- Describe and analyze quantum states of light, including Fock, coherent, and squeezed states.
- Understand quantum optical measurement techniques, including homodyne detection, photon counting, and correlation measurements.
- Explain light–matter interactions and the fundamental principles of cavity quantum electrodynamics.
- Understand superconducting quantum circuits and their applications in quantum optics and quantum information processing.
- Analyze quantum noise, measurement backaction, and the fundamental limits of quantum measurements.
- Use Python-based quantum optics tools to simulate open quantum systems.
- Understand applications of quantum optics in quantum computing, quantum communication, and quantum metrology.
Prerequisites
Prior knowledge of undergraduate quantum mechanics is recommended. Familiarity with electromagnetism, harmonic oscillators, and basic linear algebra is expected.
Plan
The course is structured into 13 weeks of about one to two-hour lectures:
- Preamble
- Lecture 1. Field quantization
- Lecture 2. Coherent and squeezed states
- Lecture 3. Squeezed states and phase space representation
- Lecture 4. Wigner function and photon statistics
- Lecture 5. Homodyne detection, Wigner function
- Lecture 6. The anharmonic oscillator - Josephson junction based superconducting qubits
- Lecture 7. Atom-field interaction
- Lecture 8. Atom-field interaction, Synthesizing quantum states, EIT and non-RWA effects
- Lecture 9. Quantum Langevin equation for an open cavity
- Lecture 10. cQED dispersive regime and QND measurement
- Lecture 11. Introduction to quantum measurements
- Lecture 12. Quantum limits of interferometric measurements
- Lecture 13. Ponderomotive Squeezing
