Pierre Meystre obtained his Physics Diploma and PhD from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Lausanne and his Habilitation in Theoretical Physics from the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. He joined the Max-Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in 1977, following a postdoctoral position at the University of Arizona College of Optical Sciences. He returned to Tucson in 1986, where he is now emeritus Regents Professor of Physics and Optical Sciences. He also served as Lead Editor of Physical Review Letters and as Editor in Chief of the American Physical Society. His research interests include theoretical quantum optics, ultracold science, and quantum optomechanics. He has published well over 300 papers, and is the author of the text "Elements of Quantum Optics", now in its 4th edition, together with Murray Sargent III, and of the monograph "Atom Optics." He was a recipient of the Humboldt Foundation Research Prize for Senior US Scientists, the R. W. Wood Prize of the Optical Society of America, and the Willis E. Lamb Award for Laser Science and Quantum Optics. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the Optical Society of America, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Honorary Professor at East China Normal University.

Covers extraordinary recent developments from quantum optics in a pedagogical way

Surveys how quantum optics and optomechanics enable ultraprecise measurement and detection for gravitational wave interferometry, tests of fundamental physics, searches for dark matter, and more

Includes plenty of exercises to enhance the readers' understanding

Logically sequenced from simpler to progressively more complex physical scenarios

Chapter 1. Semiclassical atom-light interaction.- Chapter 2. Electromagnetic field quantization.- Chapter 3. The Jaynes-Cummings model.- Chapter 4. Composite systems and entanglement.- Chapter 5. Coupling to reservoirs.- Chapter 6. Quantum measurements.- Chapter 7. Tailoring the environment - cavity QED.- Chapter 8. Mechanical effects of light.- Chapter 9. Laser cooling.- Chapter 10. Bose-Einstein condensation.- Chapter 11. Quantum optomechanics.- Chapter 12. Outlook.