Quantum Photonics

This book employs a pedagogical approach that facilitates access to the fundamentals of quantum photonics. Beginning with a review of the quantum properties of photons and electrons, this book then introduces the concept of non-locality at the quantum level. It presents a determination of electronic band structure using the pseudopotential method, enabling the student to directly compute the band structures of most group IV, group III-V, and group II-VI semiconductors. This book devotes further in-depth discussion of second quantization of the electromagnetic field that describes spontaneous and stimulated emission of photons, quantum entanglement and introduces the topic of quantum cascade lasers, showing how electrons and photons interact in a quantum environment to create a practical photonic device. This extensively updated third edition introduces major new material on squeezing and parametric amplification, offering a unified view of classical and non-classical optics. It presents a novel treatment of squeezed states of light, including their experimental detection using optical homodyne techniques, and expands the discussion of coherent states to include a broader class of minimum uncertainty states. This book also addresses foundational questions in quantum photonics—such as wavefunction collapse and tunneling time—that are rarely explored in textbooks, encouraging students to engage with open problems in the field. These additions make the third edition both a scientific and conceptual advancement over previous versions. Pearsall’s Quantum Photonics is supported by numerous numerical calculations that can be repeated by the reader, and every chapter features a reference list of state-of-the art research and a set of exercises. This book is an essential part of any graduate-level course dealing with the theory of nanophotonic devices or computational physics of solid-state quantum devices based on nanoscopic structures.