Quantum Optics

There are plenty of research fields in physics and out of them quantum optics is one. It deals with the correlation of quantum mechanics, with matter, and light. Light consists of small particles that are known as photons and that is why light seems to be grainy. One could almost consider light to be quantized. The effect as well as the nature of light is studied in quantum optics. The number of quantized photons present in light are analysed and in this way, the nature of that particular light can be determined. In 1899, when Max Planck considered the option of quantising light, he proved that this could be done by showing that there was an energy exchange between black matter and light. He assumed that there were some particles, which had this energy, and he named those particles quanta.

Since then the quantum theory came into existence. However, at that time he was not certain whether these particles came from the light or whether they were a part of the matter. Albert Einstein published the idea of the photoelectric effect in 1905, when he assumed that there were particles called photons in the light. The ideal was postulated that when there was an interaction between matter and light, there was an energetic reaction and this was the basis of the field of quantum optics. This was also the basis of quantum mechanics. When the laser was developed in 1960, this made the possibility of a growth in the science of quantum optics, which would give more information upon the qualities of light.