From Classical to Quantum Optics Course on YouTube

The Japanese government is funding a group of us, led by Prof. Kae Nemoto (now at Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology), to create an undergraduate quantum computing (engineering?) curriculum. We are calling it Quantum Academy. As of this writing, getting the full experience requires registering for a class at one of the participating institution, but we are making our share of the work available as Creative Commons, CC-BY-SA. Each module is intended to be 1 unit that will satisfy MEXT, about ten to twelve hours of face time with faculty, plus reading & homework. (Most Japanese university courses are two units, a total of 40-50 hours of work, about half the size of a U.S. course.)

Our contribution this year is the module From Classical to Quantum Optics. Actually, technically, that link will take you to our YouTube channel's playlists, which includes not only that module but also last year's Overview of Quantum Communications. Moreover, there are both English and 日本語 versions available! Michal Hajdušek created the materials and the English videos, while I did the Japanese videos.

My apologies, but we are still working on subtitles, especially for Japanese. If anyone would like to do subtitles in another language, please let us know, we are very interested!

Eventually, edited transcripts will be available in book form, as well. Patience, please!

The module begins with the classical wave equation, Fourier analysis, and Maxwell's Laws, then gets into single photons. It follows on nicely from Overview of Quantum Communications, where we talked mostly about qubits as abstract things, but also covered the critical technology of waveguides such as optical fibers, without fully justifying why light can be guided that way. Here, Maxwell's equations and the wave equation shore up that foundation. Here's the outline:

From Classical to Quantum Light

• Lesson 1-4： Waves （日本語）
• 1 Wave motion
• 2 Wave Examples
• 3 Fourier Analysis I
• 4 Fourier Analysis II
• Lesson 5-7：Light （日本語）
• 5 Maxwell's Laws I
• 6 Maxwell's Laws II
• 7 EM waves
• Lesson 8-10: EM radiation interaction with matter （日本語）
• 8 EM Waves in Optical Media I
• 9 EM Waves in Optical Media II
• 10 Photoelectric Effect
• Lesson 11-13: Quantum Light  （日本語）
• 11 Quantized Electromagnetic Radiation
• 12 Single Photons
• 13 Interference of Quantum Light
• Lesson 14-15: Beyond Single Photons and Single Modes  （日本語）
• 14 Important States of Light
• 15 Realistic Single Photons

Prerequisites: Overview of Quantum Communications, Linear Algebra, Probability

Prerequisites/co-requisites: Differential Equations, Introductory Partial Differential Equations, Introductory Quantum Mechanics, Classical Optics

Recommended next courses: Quantum Internet (coming in 2023)