I read this
book to teach myself quantum
optics.
Since I read it as a self-study
text,
I will review it from that
perspective.
Some of the weaknesses noted might
be less important for a classroom
text.
The Gerry/Knight
text is billed as suitable for
"senior undergraduates and beginning
postgraduates", but
I fear that undergraduates who
attempt it as a self-study text
are likely to end up frustrated.
I can't recall ever encountering
an undergraduate with a background
in mathematics and quantum mechanics
sufficient to read this book in a
reasonable time without the guidance
of an instructor.
If used for self-study, I think that
minimal prerequisites would be
a graduate level understanding of
abstract linear algebra and quantum
mechanics.
Some familiarity with Fock space and
the theory of operators on
infinite-dimensional Hilbert spaces
would be desirable.
Because the book
is intended for beginners,
the authors take pains to explain
many things which a beginner might
not know.
Most of the explanations were
careful and helpful, but I was
dissatisfied with some.
I read the book cover to cover and
was able to follow most of it,
but some of it (e.g, much of the
chapter on decoherence)
is still a mystery to me.
Chapter 9 describes
recent experiments in quantum optics
which
demonstrate amazing properties of
light unimaginable from a classical
perspective.
The presentations of the physical
setups give just the right amount of
detail for clear understanding.
The diagrams are good.
However, I felt that the
mathematical analyses would be easier
for those with good backgrounds if
done on a higher level,
and some of the physical discussions
seemed obscure.
Given the
authors' intended audience,
it may be unreasonable to quarrel
with their choice of mathematical
level.
However, it is truly unfortunate
that some of
their calculational details seem
actually wrong.
For example, in Section 9.3's
discussion of a ``quantum eraser'',
several terms appear to be omitted
from equation (9.21),
which invalidates some of the
subsequent discussion.
Moreover, the discussion is obscure
and seems of questionable
validity
even were the text's (9.21) correct.
The file
http://www.math.umb.edu/~sp/appendix.pdf
gives more details.
You will need Acrobat Reader to view
this file.
You may need the book in front of
you to follow the argument fully,
but even without it, you may
be able to get a sense of some of
the problems.
I noticed few actual errors such as the
above, but
there are an unusually large number
of typos.
Most are relatively insignificant,
but nevertheless distracting.
Careful editing of a second edition
would result in a more easily
usable product.
My copy is by now
riddled with underlined statements
with marginal notes
like "Why?", or "What does this
mean?"
As I progressed through the book and
my understanding deepened,
many of these "Why's" were
erased, but quite a few remain.
The reader who
wants to learn quantum optics and has
the necessary mathematical
background may wish that
parts of the book were more
carefully written,
but he will not be fundamentally
disappointed.
This is a good book.
I bought the
paperback version for $44 from
amazon.com;
in hardcover it costs $110.
(The price difference has almost no
relation to the manufacturing cost,
which is at most a few dollars.)
My copy is falling apart after only
a few weeks of careful use at home.
A book this good deserves a more
durable binding.