This volume contains ten lectures presented in the series ULB Lectures in Nonlinear Optics at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles during the period October 28 to November 4, 1991. A large part of the first six lectures is taken from material prepared for a book of somewhat larger scope which will be published,by Springer under the title Quantum Statistical Methods in Quantum Optics. The principal reason for the early publication of the present volume concerns the material contained in the last four lectures. Here I have put together, in a more or less systematic way, some ideas about the use of stochastic wavefunctions in the theory of open quantum optical systems. These ideas were developed with the help of two of my students, Murray Wolinsky and Liguang Tian, over a period of approximately two years. They are built on a foundation laid down in a paper written with Surendra Singh, Reeta Vyas, and Perry Rice on waiting-time distributions and wavefunction collapse in resonance fluorescence [Phys. Rev. A, 39, 1200 (1989)]. The ULB lecture notes contain my first serious atte~pt to give a complete account of the ideas and their potential applications. I am grateful to Professor Paul Mandel who, through his invitation to give the lectures, stimulated me to organize something useful out of work that may, otherwise, have waited considerably longer to be brought together.

This volume contains ten lectures presented in the series ULB Lectures in Nonlinear Optics at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles during the period October 28 to November 4, 1991. A large part of the first six lectures is taken from material prepared for a book of somewhat larger scope which will be published,by Springer under the title Quantum Statistical Methods in Quantum Optics. The principal reason for the early publication of the present volume concerns the material contained in the last four lectures. Here I have put together, in a more or less systematic way, some ideas about the use of stochastic wavefunctions in the theory of open quantum optical systems. These ideas were developed with the help of two of my students, Murray Wolinsky and Liguang Tian, over a period of approximately two years. They are built on a foundation laid down in a paper written with Surendra Singh, Reeta Vyas, and Perry Rice on waiting-time distributions and wavefunction collapse in resonance fluorescence [Phys. Rev. A, 39, 1200 (1989)]. The ULB lecture notes contain my first serious atte~pt to give a complete account of the ideas and their potential applications. I am grateful to Professor Paul Mandel who, through his invitation to give the lectures, stimulated me to organize something useful out of work that may, otherwise, have waited considerably longer to be brought together.

This volume contains ten lectures presented in the series ULB Lectures in Nonlinear Optics at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles during the period October 28 to November 4, 1991. A large part of the first six lectures is taken from material prepared for a book of somewhat larger scope which will be published,by Springer under the title Quantum Statistical Methods in Quantum Optics. The principal reason for the early publication of the present volume concerns the material contained in the last four lectures. Here I have put together, in a more or less systematic way, some ideas about the use of stochastic wavefunctions in the theory of open quantum optical systems. These ideas were developed with the help of two of my students, Murray Wolinsky and Liguang Tian, over a period of approximately two years. They are built on a foundation laid down in a paper written with Surendra Singh, Reeta Vyas, and Perry Rice on waiting-time distributions and wavefunction collapse in resonance fluorescence [Phys. Rev. A, 39, 1200 (1989)]. The ULB lecture notes contain my first serious atte~pt to give a complete account of the ideas and their potential applications. I am grateful to Professor Paul Mandel who, through his invitation to give the lectures, stimulated me to organize something useful out of work that may, otherwise, have waited considerably longer to be brought together.

"This book provides a solid pedagogical background in the techniques used in quantum optics, with an emphasis on open quantum systems. Suitable for undergraduates as a second semester quantum mechanics course or first year graduate students, this book begins with a short summary of quantum mechanics and contains physics of open systems and their application to light/matter interactions. Written in a simplified manner and classroom tested, this book provides the fundamentals of quantum optics and includes recent developments in the field." -- Prové de l'editor.

In this volume the fundamental theory of open quantum systems is revised in the light of modern developments in the field. A unified approach to the quantum evolution of open systems is presented by merging concepts and methods traditionally employed by different communities, such as quantum optics, condensed matter, chemical physics and mathematical physics. The mathematical structure and the general properties of the dynamical maps underlying open system dynamics are explained in detail. The microscopic derivation of dynamical equations, including both Markovian and non-Markovian evolutions, is also discussed. Because of the step-by-step explanations, this work is a useful reference to novices in this field. However, experienced researches can also benefit from the presentation of recent results.

This book introduces the quantum statistical methods used in quantum physics and is an essential guide for any student beginning their studies in quantum physics.

An in-depth and wide-ranging introduction to the field of quantum optics.

This book treats the central physical concepts and mathematical techniques used to investigate the dynamics of open quantum systems. To provide a self-contained presentation the text begins with a survey of classical probability theory and with an introduction into the foundations of quantum mechanics with particular emphasis on its statistical interpretation. The fundamentals of density matrix theory, quantum Markov processes and dynamical semigroups are developed. The most important master equations used in quantum optics and in the theory of quantum Brownian motion are applied to the study of many examples. Special attention is paid to the theory of environment induced decoherence, its role in the dynamical description of the measurement process and to the experimental observation of decohering Schrodinger cat states. The book includes the modern formulation of open quantum systems in terms of stochastic processes in Hilbert space. Stochastic wave function methods and Monte Carlo algorithms are designed and applied to important examples from quantum optics and atomic physics, such as Levy statistics in the laser cooling of atoms, and the damped Jaynes-Cummings model. The basic features of the non-Markovian quantum behaviour of open systems are examined on the basis of projection operator techniques. In addition, the book expounds the relativistic theory of quantum measurements and discusses several examples from a unified perspective, e.g. non-local measurements and quantum teleportation. Influence functional and super-operator techniques are employed to study the density matrix theory in quantum electrodynamics and applications to the destruction of quantum coherence are presented. The text addresses graduate students and lecturers in physics and applied mathematics, as well as researchers with interests in fundamental questions in quantum mechanics and its applications. Many analytical methods and computer simulation techniques are developed and illustrated with the help of numerous specific examples. Only a basic understanding of quantum mechanics and of elementary concepts of probability theory is assumed.