Roy Glauber Research Articles

About Roy Glauber

AbstractWe recount the life, work, and legacy of the theoretical physicist Roy Glauber (1925–2018). Admitted to Harvard at age 16, called upon to participate in the Manhattan Project at age eighteen, and appointed to the Harvard Physics faculty at age 29, Glauber is credited with seminal contributions to three separate fields of physics: nuclear scattering, statistical physics, and foundational work in quantum optics, which earned him the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics. Over decades, Glauber was also a dedicated teacher of high‐school, college, and graduate students. His pedagogical gifts are reflected in his lucid papers that read as if they were written yesterday.Key points perspective on the life, work, and legacy of the 2005 Physics Nobel laureate Roy Glauber (1925–2018) impact of Glauber's contributions on large swaths of physics, from nuclear to optical to condensed matter Glauber's work in quantum optics has nurtured burgeoning areas of quantum science and engineering

Optical frequency combs for atomic clocks and continental frequency dissemination

Nearly 25 years ago, Optical Frequency Combs (OFCs) have revolutionized practically from one day to the next the metrology of optical frequencies. Before that, only a few labs in the world could connect the optical (~1015 Hz) and the microwave (~1010 Hz) domains, at the price of the complex operation of a chain of multiple non-linear frequency conversions. In contrast, OFCs provided a tabletop instrument, compact, reliable and operable by a single scientist. Unmistakeable sign: only a few years had passed before pioneering inventors of OFCs Theodor Hänsch and John Hall were awarded the 2005 Nobel prize in Physics, together with Roy Glauber.

Temporal modes in quantum optics: then and now

We review the concepts of temporal modes (TMs) in quantum optics, highlighting Roy Glauber’s crucial and historic contributions to their development, and their growing importance in quantum information science. TMs are orthogonal sets of wave packets that can be used to represent a multimode light field. They are temporal counterparts to transverse spatial modes of light and play analogous roles—decomposing multimode light into the most natural basis for isolating statistically independent degrees of freedom. We discuss how TMs were developed to describe compactly various processes: superfluorescence, stimulated Raman scattering, spontaneous parametric down conversion, and spontaneous four-wave mixing. TMs can be manipulated, converted, demultiplexed, and detected using nonlinear optical processes such as three-wave mixing and quantum optical memories. As such, they play an increasingly important role in constructing quantum information networks.

Roy Glauber and asymptotic diffraction theory

This is a review of Glauber’s asymptotic diffraction theory, in which diffractive scattering is described in terms of interference between semiclassical amplitudes, resulting from a stationary-phase approximation. Typically two such amplitudes are sufficient to accurately describe elastic scattering, but the stationary points are located at complex values of the impact parameter. Their separation controls the interference pattern, and their offsets from the real axis determine the overall fall-off with momentum transfer. Asymptotically, at large momentum transfers, the stationary points move towards singularities of the profile function. I also include some reminiscences from our collaboration.

The eikonal model of reactions involving exotic nuclei; Roy Glauber's legacy in today's nuclear physics

In this contribution, the eikonal approximation developed by Roy Glauber to describe high-energy quantum collisions is presented. This approximation has been—and still is—extensively used to analyse reaction measurements performed to study the structure of nuclei far from stability. This presentation focuses more particularly on the application of the eikonal approximation to the study of halo nuclei in modern nuclear physics. To emphasise Roy Glauber’s legacy in today’s nuclear physics, recent extensions of this model are reviewed.

The structure of phase diagrams in matter-radiation systems**This work is dedicated to the memory of Professor Roy Glauber, for his numerous contributions to the development and promotion of quantum optics and mathematical physics.

We present a study of the structure of phase diagrams for matter-radiation systems, based on the use of coherent states and the catastrophe formalism, that compares very well with the exact quantum solutions as well as providing analytical expressions. Emphasis is made on 2- and 3-level systems, but in general n-level systems in the presence of ℓ electromagnetic modes are described. Due to the infinite-dimensional nature of the Hilbert space, and using the results of the analyses and the behaviour of the solutions, we construct a sequence of ever-approximating reduced bases, which make possible the study of larger systems both, in the number of atoms and in the number of excitations. These studies are of importance in fundamental quantum optics, quantum information, and quantum cryptography scenarios.

Classical and Quantum Optics and Their Influences on Science and Society

In this work we present a brief history of Optics, begun several centuries BC in its evolution characterized as Classical Optics; later on, this theory became also characterized as Quantum Optics. The first of these two theories was completed in the great work of J. C. Maxwell while the second actually started in 1977 with the discovery of the first quantum effect in Optics, having in Roy Glauber one of its greatest representatives. Here, a quick walk along these two theories was made, including the various technological applications of both in science and society

Leo Philip Kadanoff

Leo Philip Kadanoff

Daniel Frank Walls FRSNZ. 13 September 1942 — 12 May 1999

Dan Walls, a pioneer of quantum optics and especially the study of non-classical light, died in Auckland on 12 May 1999 after a battle with cancer, at the age of 57 years. Dan Walls completed a PhD with Roy Glauber at Harvard in 1969 and joined the University of Waikato in 1972. Together with his colleague Crispin Gardiner, during the next 25 years he established a major research centre for theoretical quantum optics in New Zealand and built active and productive collaborations with groups throughout the world.

EDITORIAL

In every issue of the Asia Pacific Physics Newsletter (APPN) we seek to bring to you articles reporting the latest discoveries, research highlights and headline news in the field of Physics. This issue, once again, is packed with interesting insights into the lives of pioneers like Professor CN Yang (Nobel Laureate for Physics,1957), Professor Roy Glauber (Nobel Laureate for Physics, 2005) and Professor Serge Haroche (Nobel Laureate for Physics, 2012).

From Los Alamos to Stockholm

Roy Glauber shared the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2005. He was cited for his contribution to the quantum theory of optical coherence, which explains why many experiments, using lasers for example, can only be understood if light is explicitly considered to be granular (composed of individual photons). His work laid the foundations of a field now known as quantum optics.

Autobiography of Shaul Mukamel

Autobiography of Shaul Mukamel

Light fantastic

The laser has become so ubiquitous that it would be impossible to acknowledge everyone who has played a role in its success. As Roy Glauber said at the 2005 Nobel-prize banquet, when it comes to lasers, “many hands make light work”. And he should know: the prize Glauber shared with fellow optics pioneers John Hall and Theodore Hänsch is one of more than 10 Nobels awarded (so far!) for laser-related research. This timeline marking 50 years of the laser contains Physics World's pick of events from laser history, including prizes (gold text), applications (green) and “firsts” (blue).

An interview with Nobel laureate Roy Glauber, Physics 2005

The field of quantum optics rests on the work of Roy Glauber, who helped elucidate the nature of light as both particles and waves. According to Glauber, quantum optics allowed "all sorts of experiments...that never could have been done before." He suggests that it was not his "small revelation" that the Nobel Committee awarded, but rather the decades of research that followed his own. Nonetheless, Glauber received one-half of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his contribution to the quantum theory of optical coherence" while the other half was shared by John Hall and Theodor Hänsch for their work on laser-based precision spectroscopy. Glauber admits that the behavior of light seems strange and unintuitive--yet the phenomena that Einstein called "spooky action at a distance" may have many practical applications. In this candid interview, Glauber shares his thoughts about working at Los Alamos National Laboratory--his shock to learn that he was helping to build The Bomb, and his dismay about how it was used. At Los Alamos, Glauber met two of his major influences: Julian Schwinger, who was Glauber's thesis advisor at Harvard, and Los Alamos scientific director Robert Oppenheimer, who facilitated his early post-doctoral research. Glauber also tells a poignant account of how his marriage fell victim to the social upheaval of the 1960's, and how he was left to raise two children alone. Despite the difficulties of reconciling academia with family, Glauber is amused to find himself revered by women as "someone who has raised children and nonetheless had a successful academic career."

Editorial: Celebrating Physical Chemistry

Editorial: Celebrating Physical Chemistry

Intrinsic Coherence: A New Concept in Polarization and Coherence Theory

The concept of interference has always been critical to our grasp of the nature of light. Building on the groundbreaking work of Emil Wolf and Roy Glauber, these authors analyze intrinsic coherence properties of partially polarized light.

One Hundred Years of Light Quanta (Nobel Lecture)

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2005 falls in the realm of light (see picture; a) classical and b) quantum physics observation of light), and it is awarded to three scientists: Roy Glauber, John Hall and Theodor Hänsch. Roy Glauber succeeded in describing a general method for observing photons. He formulated a theory that gives optics a quantum-mechanical basis.

Quantum Optics Shines in the Photon's Centenary

Roy Glauber has won half the 2005 Nobel Prize in physics for mapping out the conceptual connection between assemblages of individual photons and classical waves of light. Theodor HA¤nsch and John L. Hall share the other half for developing exquisitely precise techniques to manipulate laser light, which is a quantum-mechanical torrent of photons.

Neural computation in Hopfield networks and Boltzmann machines

From the Publisher: One hundred years ago, the fundamental building block of the central nervous system, the neuron, was discovered. This study focuses the existing mathematical models of neurons and their interactions, the simulation of which has been one of the biggest challenges facing modern science. More than fifty years ago, W. S. McCulloch and W. Pitts devised their model for the neuron, John von Neumann seemed to sense the possibilities for the development of intelligent systems, and Frank Rosenblatt came up with a functioning network of neurons. Despite these advances, the subject had begun to fade as a major research area until John Hopfield arrived the scene. Drawing an analogy between neural networks and the Ising spin models of ferromagnetism, Hopfield was able to introduce a computational that would decline toward stable minima under the operation of the system of neurodynamics devised by Roy Glauber. Like a switch, a neuron is said to be either on or off. The state of the neuron is determined by the states of the other neurons and the connections between them, and the connections are assumed to be reciprocal - that is, neuron number one influences neuron number two exactly as strongly as neuron number two influences neuron number one. According to the Glauber dynamics, the states of the neurons are updated in a random serial way until an equilibrium is reached. An energy function can be associated with each state, and equilibrium corresponds to a minimum of this energy. It follows from Hopfield's assumption of reciprocity that an equilibrium will always be reached. D. H. Ackley, G. E. Hinton, and T. J. Sejnowski modified the Hopfield network by introducing the simulated annealing algorithm to search out the deepest minima. This is accomplished by - loosely speaking - shaking the machine. The violence of the shaking is controlled by a parameter called temperature, producing the Boltzmann machine - a name designed to emphasize the connection to the