Quantum Measurement Theory and its Applications

Understanding quantum measurement theory is essential in subjects ranging from thermodynamics to experiments on mesoscopic systems. This book introduces graduate students and researchers in physics to the basic theory and its applications. Topics covered include quantum control, metrology, the thermodynamics of Maxwell's demon, and the emergence of classical chaos.

---

Recent experimental advances in the control of quantum superconducting circuits, nano-mechanical resonators and photonic crystals has meant that quantum measurement theory is now an indispensable part of the modelling and design of experimental technologies. This book, aimed at graduate students and researchers in physics, gives a thorough introduction to the basic theory of quantum measurement and many of its important modern applications. Measurement and control is explicitly treated in superconducting circuits and optical and opto-mechanical systems, and methods for deriving the Hamiltonians of superconducting circuits are introduced in detail. Further applications covered include feedback control, metrology, open systems and thermal environments, Maxwell's demon, and the quantum-to-classical transition.