Introduction to Optical Quantum Information Processing

Quantum information processing offers fundamental improvements over classical information processing, such as computing power, secure communication, and high-precision measurements. However, the best way to create practical devices is not yet known. This textbook describes the techniques that are likely to be used in implementing optical quantum information processors. After developing the fundamental concepts in quantum optics and quantum information theory, the book shows how optical systems can be used to build quantum computers according to the most recent ideas. It discusses implementations based on single photons and linear optics, optically controlled atoms and solid-state systems, atomic ensembles, and optical continuous variables. This book is ideal for graduate students beginning research in optical quantum information processing. It presents the most important techniques of the field using worked examples and over 120 exercises.

Part I. Quantum Optics and Quantum Information: 1. The quantum theory of light; 2. Quantum information processing; 3. Figures of merit; Part II. Quantum Information in Photons and Atoms: 4. Photon sources and detectors; 5. Quantum communication with single photons; 6. Quantum computation with single photons; 7. Atomic quantum information carriers; Part III. Quantum Information in Many-Body Systems: 8. Quantum communication with continuous variables; 9. Quantum computation with continuous variables; 10. Atomic ensembles in quantum information processing; 11. Solid state quantum information carriers; 12. Decoherence of solid state qubits; 13. Quantum metrology; Appendices; References; Index.

Pieter Kok is a Lecturer in Theoretical Physics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, the University of Sheffield. He is a member of the Institute of Physics and the American Physical Society, and his Ph.D. thesis won the Institute of Physics Quantum Electronics and Photonics thesis award in 2001.
Brendon Lovett is a Royal Society University Research Fellow in the Department of Materials, the University of Oxford. He has been a visiting Fellow at the University of Queensland, Australia and is an academic visitor at the National University of Singapore.