Customer Reviews

The Quantum Theory of Light (Oxford Science Publications)

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This is a decent book. I'd agree that it can be dry and focused on equations more than physics at times, but it offers a very balanced selection of topics, and clearer explanations than many physics books.

I particularly like the progression from old quantum theory to semiclassical theory to the fully quantized theory. It emphasizes the useful aspects of each theory, in particular the usefulness of the old theory in terms of simplicity and accuracy in many situations. History may not always be the best approach to science, but it works if you emphasize the usefulness of simple models and how they follow from more sophisticated models.

For an introduction to quantum optics, the author is to be highly commended for keeping the mathematics and derivations straightforward and easily followed by a senior or 1st year graduate student in experimental physics. Unfortunately, he does not go beyond the math to discuss the physics which the mathematics describe. The problems he includes for students to work out are all derivation of formula with absolutely no application of formula. By the time I got through the book, I realized that I still had no real intuition of how a laser worked, or any understanding of how to apply the quantized radiation field to any real-world problems.

So if you're looking for a handbook to give you a simple tour of the mathematics in the quantum theory of light, this is the book for you. If you're looking for a more comprehensive treatment, look elsewhere. The selection of topics is very limited: too little math for a theorist, and too little physics for the experimentalist.