Parametric Amplification of Coupled Atomic and Optical Fields

Abstract

One of the earliest and still most important spin-offs of the invention of the laser is without a doubt nonlinear optics. Following the pioneering experiments carried out by P. A. Franken and his students [1], N. Bloembergen, Y. R. Shen and their collaborators made a series of crucial advances that led to the rapid development of the field [2]. In the early days, it was generally understood that what made nonlinear optics possible was the high optical powers provided by lasers. For such fields, a classical description of the light fields was clearly sufficient. Yet, a few visionaries insisted on a fully quantum mechanical description of radiation in the analysis of nonlinear optical phenomena such as parametric amplification. A central character in these developments was R. J. Glauber, who, together with his students, developed many of the tools, and much of the early quantum theory of nonlinear optics [3],[4]. One of his students was DanWalls, who upon his return to New Zealand after spending a short time in Germany developed one of the leading schools of quantum optics in the world.