Description

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This book discusses in a systematic manner the quantum properties of the light generated by various optical systems such as lasers and the effect of light on the dynamics of atoms. Several original and interesting procedures of analysis are presented. Some of these include the procedure followed to derive the master equation for a cavity mode or a two-level atom coupled to a thermal reservoir, to establish the correlation properties of the noise operators associated with the quantum Langevin equation, to obtain the input-output relation, and the approach adopted in the analysis of atom cooling. Moreover, local mean photon number, local quadrature squeezing, and the superposition of light beams are discussed. In addition, we present a refined quantum analysis of the light produced by a subharmonic generator, two-level and three-level lasers, pumped by electron bombardment or coherent light and with the vacuum-reservoir noise operators put in normal order. The book, which contains several new results, can serve as a basis for initiating the experimental confirmation of certain theoretical predictions.