Teaching

I will be teaching a cross-listed course, Phys 495/595 B04: “Quantum Atomic and Optical Physics” in the Winter 2020 semester.  The syllabus from the 2018 iteration is available here; we will cover much the same material this year.

Course description

Introduction to quantum atomic and optical physics, with a focus on the quantum light-matter interaction. Top- ics include: a detailed study of the two-level problem using both semiclassical and quantum optics (Rabi flopping, AC Stark shift, optical Bloch equations); the fundamentals of atomic structure (fine, hyperfine, Zeeman interactions); quantization of the electromagnetic field (Jaynes-Cummings model, quantum states of light); applications to current research topics (laser cooling and trapping, cavity QED, quantum information). Prerequisite: Phys 472 or Phys 511 or equivalent.

Time: M W F 13:00 - 13:50
Location: CCIS L1-029

Recommended texts (both available through UAlberta Libraries as ebooks, and are not too expensive at Amazon):

Reference texts:

  • R. Loudon, The Quantum Theory of Light (Oxford, 2008). 
  • Scully and Zubairy, Quantum Optics (Cambridge, 1997).


© Lindsay J LeBlanc 2013