Quantum Optics for Engineers

1

Introduction

1.1    Introduction

Perhaps no other subject in the history of physics has captured the human imagination more than quantum mechanics has. This captivation has extended beyond physics, and science, and well into the realm of popular culture. This is because quantum mechanics, also known as quantum physics, correctly describes the microworld and the nanoworld in a mathematical way that appears to be mysterious to us, the inhabitants of the classical world.

Perhaps one of the best, and most succinct, descriptions of quantum mechanics has been given by the well-known quantum and particle physicist John Clive Ward: “The inner mysteries of quantum mechanics require a willingness to extend one’s mental processes into a strange world ...