Abstract

The traditional theory of quantum optics is developed in a reciprocal-space representation by expanding the field info 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.

© 1991 Optical Society of America