Quantum nature of light

In future improvements in technology may mean that that read noise no longer is the dominant noise source, and Poisson noise arising from the quantum nature of light is in fact the limiting factor. In this case the variance of the centroid noise is equal to. 

Before discussing some important consequences of the quantum nature of light, it is useful to have an idea of the magnitudes of the energies involved. Equation 1.12 is more useful when expressed in terms of the wavelength, as this is what is normally measured, not the frequency. Using eqn 1.3, we have... 

Let us return to the Young s slits experiment (Fig. 1.4). Normally when this is performed, the quantum nature of light is not relevant. The intensity... 

In conclusion, we have presented the Hrst high-resolution heterodyne measurement of the elastic peak in resonance fluorescence of a single ion. At identical experimental parameters we have also measmed antibunching in the photon correlation of the scattered Held. Together, both measurements show that, in the limit of weak excitation, the fluorescence light differs from the excitation radiation in the second-order correlation but not in the first order correlation. However, the elastic component of resonance fluorescence combines an extremely narrow frequency spectrum with antibunched photon statistics, which means that the fluorescence radiation is not second-order coherent as expected from a classical point of view. This apparent contradiction can be explained easily by taking into accoimt the quantum nature of light, since first-order coherence does not imply second-order coherence for quantized fields (19). The heterodyne and the photon correlation measurement are complementary since they emphasize either the classical wave properties or the quantum properties of resonance fluorescence, respectively. 

D.F. Walls Evidence for the quantum nature of light. Nature 280, 451 (1979)... 

In this chapter we give a brief review of some of the basic concepts of quantum mechanics with emphasis on salient points of this theory relevant to the central theme of the book. We focus particularly on the electron density because it is the basis of the theory of atoms in molecules (AIM), which is discussed in Chapter 6. The Pauli exclusion principle is also given special attention in view of its role in the VSEPR and LCP models (Chapters 4 and 5). We first revisit the perhaps most characteristic feature of quantum mechanics, which differentiates it from classical mechanics its probabilistic character. For that purpose we go back to the origins of quantum mechanics, a theory that has its roots in attempts to explain the nature of light and its interactions with atoms and molecules. References to more complete and more advanced treatments of quantum mechanics are given at the end of the chapter. 

Photon Another term for a single quantum of light, a name chosen to emphasize the particulate nature of light. 

Einstein s idea started a truly revolutionary development in physics quantum mechanics, It opened up wide new horizons and clarified many outstanding problems in our view of the structure of matter, Quantum mechanics is based on the idea of wave-particle duality. Einstein first applied this idea to the nature of light, but it was... 

There are several reasons for starting this account with a discussion of electromagnetic radiation. Historically, it was in this area that the quantum theory first developed. It is easier here to understand the evidence for the theory, and to appreciate some of its paradoxical consequences, than it is in the quantum theory of matter. The applications of the light-quantum hypothesis, as it was first called, also provide key pieces of evidence for the quantization of energy in atoms and molecules. Studies of the absorption and emission of radiation—the field of spectroscopy—and of the effect of light on chemical reactions—photochemistry—are very important areas of modem chemistry, in which the quantum nature of radiation is crucial. 

By definition, quantum control relies upon the unique quantum properties of light and matter, principally the wavelilce nature of both. As such, maintenance of the phase information contained in both the matter and light is central to the success of the control scenarios. Chapter 5 deals with decoherence, that is, the loss of phase information due to the influence of the external environment in reducing the system coherence. Methods of countering decoherence are also discussed. 

A paradox which stimulated the early development of the quantum theory concerned the indeterminate nature of light. Light usually behaves as a wave phenomenon but occasionally it betrays a particle-like aspect, a schizoid tendency known as the wave-particle duality. We consider first the wave aspect of light. 

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