Quantum Optics for Engineers

12

Schrödinger’s Equation

12.1  Introduction

As mentioned in Chapter 1, Schrödinger’s equation provides one of the three main avenues to quantum mechanics. It also has important applications in atomic and molecular physics (Herzberg, 1950; Feynman et al., 1965). Given the importance of this equation, here we examine several derivational approaches. The principal aim is to gain an understanding on the physics behind this quantum wave equation. Since the application of this equation is widely and extensively treated in many textbooks (see, e.g., Saleh and Teich, 1991; Silfvast, 2008; Hooker and Webb, 2010), here we only briefly describe a few applications relevant to semiconductor lasers.

12.2  Schrödinger’s Mind

As its name suggests, Schrödinger’s ...