Quantum statistics of linear and nonlinear optical phenomena

The subject matter dealt with in this monograph represents an important branch of modern physics with increasing application in spectroscopy, interferometry (including attempts to detect gravitational waves), quantum generators of radiation, optical communication and other fields of science, including biophysics, psychophysics, biology and chemistry. The book provides an account of the correlation and coherence theory and of the coherent-state technique, which are employed as fundamental tools to investigate the quantum statistical properties of radiation interacting with matter. These methods are used in particular in random and nonlinear media, which are extensively reviewed. The quantum statistical properties and the photocount statistics of optical parametric processes; Raman and Brillouin scattering; multiphoton absorption and emission; etc. are derived with particular attention to generation of fields having no classical analogues, whose photons exhibit so-called antibunching. More results are interpreted in the framework of the generalised superposition of coherent and chaotic fields. The approach is rigorous and quite general compared to previous reviews and books traditionally treating nonlinear optical phenomena. (Auth.)