The Quantum Theory of Optical Coherence. - [DEVELOPMENT OF QUANTUM OPTICS]

Lancaster, American Institute of Physics, 1963. Lex8vo. Volume 130, 15 June, No. 6, of "The Physical Review", Second Series. Entire volume offered in the original printed blue wrappers. Previous owner's stamp to front wrapper. Wear to spine and extremities. Internally fine and clean. Pp. 2529-38. [Entire issue: Pp. 2135-2622]. First publication of this seminal paper in which the first thorough development of the quantum theory of optical coherence was presented. The present paper led directly to Glauber being awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 2005 "for his contribution to the quantum theory of optical coherence". His theories are today widely used in the field of quantum optics."After the discovery of the maser and the laser in the sixties new ideas for quantum effects of the radiation field were in the air. However, there was no theory for their observation. It was only in 1963 that Roy [Glauber] had developed the quantum theory of optical coherence [in the present paper]. Here the concept of coherence state plays a central role. Coherent states had been proposed for the first time by Erwin Schrödinger in order to show that a wavepacket needs not always to be bound to spread. The coherent state became the crucial tool for Roy's theory of optical coherence. In particular, he could show that for coherent fields all correlation functions factorize." (Scully. Quantum theory of optical coherence. 2009. P. xv.).Glauber's work was essential for understanding and the further development of the laser.…