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I'm a senior undergraduate student and I have chosen my future Ph.D research area in {Quantum Computing}$\bigcap${AMO physics} (e.g. design a new experimental realization of QC or propose a new way to solve the difficulty in, say maintaining coherence or readout). I have a very solid background in QFT and advanced QM, Group theory and all undergraduate-level courses.

I plan to spend a few months learning the most fundamental theories in this area and then begin my own theoretical research as soon as possible, picking up the less important ones on my way. (I'll definitely get bored if I keep studying for too long without doing research.)

At present, it is very difficult for me to read a research article in this area, not to say solve any problem of research-value. It seems that Quantum Optics is an essential part? (Even review articles are hard for me, as they seem to assume the reader's background in Q. Optics or something) Then, which book/review article do you recommend most?

Qmechanic
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Zhiyuan Wang
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1 Answers1

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For quantum information/computing, the Bible seems to be Nielsen and Chuang's Quantum Computation and Information. I've got a copy open next to me right now. It's far more "quantum info" than "AMO", although there is a chapter on experimental realizations of quantum computing. It's an excellent introduction for either physicists or computer scientists interested in the field.

AMO itself is a pretty broad field, and without knowing exactly what articles you're talking about it's hard to tell you what would be an overview of the things you don't understand from those articles. A common canonical text on quantum optics is Scully and Zubairy, Quantum Optics, although I can't say that I found it very readable. I often see references to Cohen-Tahnnoudji's Atom-Photon Interactions. My undergraduate AMO class made use of a book called Atomic Physics by Christopher Foot. Note that you say you know "advanced QM," but it's not clear to me if by this you mean field theory, which is nice but not really what's needed for QI (sometimes in AMO, but not often). You should at least be on the level of Advanced Quantum Mechanics by J.J. Sakurai.

Personally, my graduate AMO class didn't use a textbook and instead relied on these notes by Harvard physicist Mikhail Lukin. (My advisor took this class in grad school, and hence imported it to my university.) However, since they are LaTeXed lecture notes, they are neither comprehensive nor error-free. Actually, what I'll do is link to the course website, and you can see some of the textbooks recommended there. The class is co-taught by an AMO/quantum info theorist and an AMO experimentalist so I think the references reflect the field pretty well.

zeldredge
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