Abstract

The traditional theory of Quantum Optics is developed in a reciprocal-space representation by expanding the field into modes that are delocalized over all space. The reciprocal space representation is particularly well suited for the description of the temporal evolution of the field in a cavity, but greatly complicates the description of short-pulse traveling-wave phenomena. This is particularly true in nonlinear media in which all modes interact with each other through the nonlinear polarization term in the modal Hamiltonian. A case in point is the quantum description of the Self-Phase Modulation process that a short pulse undergoes when it propagates in an optical fiber: the resulting nonlinear frequency chirp requires consideration of all the modes of the field together with their relative phases, a very difficult task within the traditional formalism of Quantum Optics.

© 1992 IQEC