Introductory textbook for cavity quantum electrodynamics

[Haorong Wu]

Hi. I'm having a hard time learning the physical realization of quantum computers. I got stuck with the section of optical cavity quantum eletrodynamics.

There are some concepts I am not familiar with. I think I should read some introductory textbooks which cover cavity quantum electrodynamics. Could someone recommend some good introductory textbooks? Those just with the basic concepts, theorems and effects would be good enough.

Thanks!

 

[Andy Resnick]

Cavity QED is not an introductory topic. A few PDFs to get you started:

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a6ab/c61424fc54bb4641ee5a4d692c32784f3c47.pdfhttps://www.physik.hu-berlin.de/de/nano/lehre/copy_of_quantenoptik09/Chapter12
A few 'scholarly' reports:

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0034-4885/69/5/R02https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/physics-and-astronomy/cavity-quantum-electrodynamics

 

[Haorong Wu]

Cavity QED is not an introductory topic. A few PDFs to get you started:

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a6ab/c61424fc54bb4641ee5a4d692c32784f3c47.pdfhttps://www.physik.hu-berlin.de/de/nano/lehre/copy_of_quantenoptik09/Chapter12
A few 'scholarly' reports:

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0034-4885/69/5/R02https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/physics-and-astronomy/cavity-quantum-electrodynamics

Thanks, Andy. By saying not an introductory topic, do you mean it is an advance subject? I only learn the quantum mechanics with Griffiths's book. Is that enough? Or would you recommend some other basic material? However, I would like to try those pdf first. Thanks!

 

[Wrichik Basu]

Thanks, Andy. By saying not an introductory topic, do you mean it is an advance subject? I only learn the quantum mechanics with Griffiths's book. Is that enough? Or would you recommend some other basic material? However, I would like to try those pdf first. Thanks!

Before cavity QED, you have to first learn basic QED. Griffiths is an absolutely basic level book in QM, while QED is a part of Quantum Field Theory (QFT). But if you learn Griffiths completely, and also have knowledge of special relativity, in principle you can start with QFT. For that, you need a more basic level book in QFT, where the "very difficult" sections are skipped, but other important derivations are in place. You will have to learn the quantization of scalar and Dirac fields, then gauge theories, and then QED (some books change the order of the last two, and there is no problem with that.)

However, I wonder if there are too many books on cavity QED solely that you can start after learning the basics of QED. After a Google search, this book came up: Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics: The Strange Theory of Light in a Box by Sergio M. Dutra. I don't know if it's good or bad, as I haven't read it. Some other books are available too.

Be sure to pick up a more recent book, as these topics are under development, and often old books will skip newly discovered things.

 

[Haorong Wu]

Before cavity QED, you have to first learn basic QED. Griffiths is an absolutely basic level book in QM, while QED is a part of Quantum Field Theory (QFT). But if you learn Griffiths completely, and also have knowledge of special relativity, in principle you can start with QFT. For that, you need a more basic level book in QFT, where the "very difficult" sections are skipped, but other important derivations are in place. You will have to learn the quantization of scalar and Dirac fields, then gauge theories, and then QED (some books change the order of the last two, and there is no problem with that.)

However, I wonder if there are too many books on cavity QED solely that you can start after learning the basics of QED. After a Google search, this book came up: Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics: The Strange Theory of Light in a Box by Sergio M. Dutra. I don't know if it's good or bad, as I haven't read it. Some other books are available too.

Be sure to pick up a more recent book, as these topics are under development, and often old books will skip newly discovered things.

Thanks, Wrichik. I didn't realize I have to learn so much before cavity QED. I guess it is not a good time for me to dive in this subject cause there are many other topics I have to learn in quantum computation and quantum information.

I defintely will follow your recommendation after I finish Neilsen's QIQC. Right now, I just have to skip those sections and move on.

Thanks again!

 

[Wrichik Basu]

Thanks, Wrichik. I didn't realize I have to learn so much before cavity QED. I guess it is not a good time for me to dive in this subject cause there are many other topics I have to learn in quantum computation and quantum information.

Often, it is tempting to start a topic, but one cannot do that without learning the basics. I have faced this as well. I always wanted to learn particle physics. So I took a graduate-level book and started right away, but to my utter dismay, I couldn't understand a word. Later, I learned that I had to learn QM and then QFT before particle physics. Today, I am reading that same book, and I can say the patient wait has paid back well.

Don't lose interest, and I am sure you will be able to read those skipped topics someday. Best of luck!

 

[vanhees71]

I think, if you are more specifically interested in quantum optics in general and cavity QED in particular rather than studying a HEP QFT/QED book it's more straight forward to study a quantum optics book. My favorite is

J. C. Garrison, R. Y. Chiao, Quantum Optics, Oxford University Press (2008)