Quantum physics

• This lecture aims at the description of the interaction between quantum matter in its simplest form, an atom, and an electromagnetic field. A semi-classical approach, where the field is classical, is first considered, including relaxation of the atom. We then study the quantization of the electromagnetic field and its relaxation, before its interaction with an atom is described in a full quantum model.

Since the 80’s, laser cooling has enabled the production of sub-milliKelvin dilute atomic gases - which can be further cooled to the nanoKelvin regime.

Computational physics plays a central role in all fields of physics, from classical statistical physics, soft matter problems, and hard-condensed matter. Our goal is to cover the very basic concepts underlying computer simulations in classical and quantum problems, and connect these ideas to relevant contemporary research problems in various fields of physics. In the TD’s you will also learn how to set, perform and analyse simple computer simulations by yourself. We will use Python, but no previous knowledge of this programming language is needed.

This course is about how to describe complex systems using ideas of the renormalization group (‘coarse-graining’) and statistical field theory.

The main goal of the course is to study the light-matter interaction at the fundamental level where one two-level system interacts with a single mode of the electromagnetic field. 

The lecture will first presents the fundamental concept of cavity quantum electrodynamics (Jaynes–Cummings model, resonant and dispersive interaction, Schrödinger cat states of light) and then moves to the more recent developments of circuit QED.