Swashbuckling Through Quantum Optics

I'm teaching my Quantum Optics class again this term, out of a completely different textbook than last time around-- I'm using Mark Fox's Quantum Optics from the Oxford Master Series in AMO Physics, which is more of a regular textbook. I've got six students-- four junior and senior physics majors, one senior chemistry major, and a retired scientist from GE who is interested in catching up on the latest new stuff.

Last time around, I posted my lecture notes as I went through the class, but I've forgotten to do that thus far this term, here in the Freezing Hell of Lab Grading. So here's a big links dump of lecture notes from classes 5-11 (classes 1-4 are a whirlwind review of classical E&M and basic quantum:

• Lecture 5-6.pdf Einstein rate coeffieicents, Fermi Golden Rule
• Lecture 7.pdfProving the existence of photons via photon counting statistics
• Lecture 8.pdf Experimental measurement of photon counting statistics and shot noise in photodiodes
• Lecture 9.pdfPhoton bunching and anti-bunching, Hanbury Brown and Twiss
• Lecture 10.pdf Single photon interference, describing light as a harmonic oscillator
• Lecture 11.pdf Phasor and field quadrature description of light, quantization of light, vacuum fields

These are kind of sketchy-- I'm ad-libbing a bit more than usual-- but they get you the basic idea of the material. I'm enjoying the class thus far, though the 9:15 am meeting time makes mornings a little hectic, what with Emmy and SteelyKid needing to be taken care of.

If you've been wondering what I do in my day job, here's a glimpse...