Quantum Photonics

This textbook employs a pedagogical approach that facilitates access to the fundamentals of quantum photonics. Photonics is the discipline of electrons and photons working in tandem to create new physics, new devices and new applications. Beginning with a review of the quantum properties of photons and electrons, the book introduces quantum tunneling to address the concept of nonlocality of an electron at the quantum level. Introducing the concepts of reciprocal space, Brillouin zones, and Bloch's theorem, the determination of electronic band structure using the pseudopotential method is presented, allowing direct computation of the band structures of most group IV, group III-V, and group II-VI semiconductors. The book devotes further in-depth discussion to the topics of quantum entanglement and quantum cryptography, and introduces the topic of quantum cascade lasers, showing how band structure engineering can be applied to access photon emission energies that cannot be achieved using conventional materials. This extended 2nd edition includes a detailed description of the link between quantum photon states and the macroscopic electric field. It introduces treatment of electrons not only as quantum particles with wavelike behavior, but more fundamentally as fermions with their own unique operator algebra and distinguishable behavior from bosons (i.e. photons). Finally, it describes and analyzes the Quantum Point Contact, which is a simple nanoscopic structure omnipresent in all quantum fermion circuits, such as electron interferometry. Pearsall's Quantum Photonics is supported by numerous numerical calculations that can be repeated by the reader, and every chapter features an up-to-date reference list and exercise set. This textbook is an essential part of any graduate-level course dealing with the theory of nanophotonic devices or computational physics of solid-state optical devices based on nanophotonic structures.