THEORY OF COHERENCE FOR THE QUANTIZED ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD,
Abstract
A preliminary account of the quantum theory of coherence for electromagnetic radiation is presented using the method of Schwinger's variational action principle. The generating functional for the quantum expectation values of arbitrary products of field operators for the free electromagnetic field subject to any homogeneous boundary conditions is explicitly given in terms of the dyadic Green's function for the corresponding classical problem. Although thermal expectation values are generated directly by the process of functional differentiation in this formulation, it is possible to generate expectation values for any free field state by employing projection operations. In particular Glauber's coherent state expectation values may be obtained. Results for the radiation field coupled only to c-number sources may trivially be extracted from the free field formulation. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 01, 1965
- Accession Number
- AD0614062
Entities
People
- Nicholas Solimene
Organizations
- Control Data Corporation