An Open Systems Approach to Quantum Optics

This monograph develops the theory of quantum light sources around operator master equations and Heisenberg picture-based relationships between source operators and the quantum fields radiated by the source. It reviews the quantum statistical methods used to analyze master equations.

---

This text develops the theory of quantum light sources around operator master equations and Heisenberg-picture based relationships between source operators and the quantum fields radiated by the source. It reviews the standard quantum statistical methods used to analyze master equations and compute statistical properties of the fields radiated by a source. The limitations of these methods for sources of non-classical light are discussed. Using the theory of photoelectric detection as an interface, the book develops a new way of describing a quantum source of light in which the density operator is replaced by a stochastic wave function. This new theory, quantum trajectory theory, is illustrated by examples of sources that produce anti-bunched and squeezed light. The theory is also applied to problems from cavity quantum electrodynamics where standard linear noise theory is not valid.