Light-matter interaction: physics and engineering at the nanoscale

Light–matter interaction is pervasive throughout the disciplines of optical and atomic physics, condensedmatter physics, and electrical engineering with frequency and length scales extending over many orders of magnitude. The frequency range extends from a few tens of Hz for sea communications to hundreds of petaHz (1015 s–1) for X-ray imaging systems. Length scales range from thousands of kilometres to a few hundred picometres. Although the present work does not offer an exhaustive treatise on this vast subject, it does aim to provide advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and researchers from these diverse disciplines the principal tools required to understand and contribute to rapidly advancing developments in light–matter interaction centred at optical frequencies and length scales. Classical electrodynamics, with an emphasis on the macroscopic expressions of Maxwell’s equations, physical optics, and quantum mechanics provide unique perspectives to the interaction of light and matter at these length scales. Circuit theory and waveguide theory from electrical engineering can provide surprising analogies and often offer important insights into the nature of these interactions. In addition to the subjects presented in the first edition, the second edition treats light transmission in metamaterials, optical field momentum flow between fields and matter, energy flow and atom-optical forces applied to atomic and molecular cooling and trapping. This book deploys an arsenal of powerful analytical tools to render this multidisciplinary subject in a novel form, not encountered in standard physics or electrical engineering text books.