Atom-Field Interactions and Dressed Atoms

by G. Compagno, R. Passante, F. Persico

Overview

The interaction between atoms and electromagnetic fields is an area of central importance to the investigation of fundamental concepts of quantum mechanics. The authors provide an introduction to the theory concerning this interaction by describing the different forms of the interaction and dealing with how these interactions lead to the formation of dressed states, in the presence of vacuum fluctuations as well as in the presence of external fields. They also cover the role of dressed atoms in quantum measurement theory and the physical interpretation of vacuum radiative effects. Treating a key field on the boundary between quantum optics and quantum electrodynamics, the book will be of great use to graduate students, as well as to established experimentalists and theorists, in either of these areas.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521419482
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	08/03/1995
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Modern Optics , #17
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	6.22(w) x 9.29(h) x 1.18(d)

Table of Contents

Preface; 1. Classical electromagnetic field in the absence of sources; 2. Quantum electromagnetic field in the absence of sources; 3. The quantum matter field; 4. Electrodynamics in the presence of sources; 5. Atoms dressed by a real electromagnetic field; 6. Dressing by zero-point fluctuations; 7. Energy density around dressed atoms; 8. Further considerations on the nature of dressed states; Appendices.