Quantum Mechanics


Book Description

Explore the relationship between quantum mechanics and information-age applications This volume takes an altogether unique approach to quantum mechanics. Providing an in-depth exposition of quantum mechanics fundamentals, it shows how these concepts are applied to most of today's information technologies, whether they are electronic devices or materials. No other text makes this critical, essential leap from theory to real-world applications. The book's lively discussion of the mathematics involved fits right in with contemporary multidisciplinary trends in education: Once the basic formulation has been derived in a given chapter, the connection to important technological problems is summarily described. A book for the information age, Quantum Mechanics: Fundamentals and Applications to Technology promises to become a standard in departments of electrical engineering, applied physics, and materials science, as well as physics. It is an excellent text for senior undergraduate and graduate students, and a helpful reference for practicing scientists, engineers, and chemists in the semiconductor and electronic industries.




Schrodinger's Machines


Book Description

In his foreword to Schrödinger's Machines, Paul Davies writes, "The nineteenth century was known as the machine age, the twentieth century will go down in history as the information age. I believe the twenty-first century will be the quantum age." Perhaps the most successful scientific theory in history, quantum mechanics has already ushered in the information age with inventions like the transistor and the laser. In Schrödinger's Machines, renowned quantum physicist Gerard Milburn explores how our ever-increasing ability to manipulate atomic and subatomic processes is turning purely hypothetical situations and concepts (of a truly weird nature) into concrete, practical devices-- resulting in a complete transformation of our world view. Imagine the creation of machines the size of molecules, detectors sensitive enough to pick up the sound of a pin dropping on the other side of the earth, the fabrication of new and exotic materials, and extraordinarily powerful computers that can process information in many alternative realities simultaneously, creating a whole new type of mathematics. This isn't science fiction, but just some of the breathtaking possibilities offered by quantum technology over the next fifty years. Leaving the common sense of Newtonian machines far behind, Schrödinger's Machines is an advance preview of the strange new world ahead. Clearly presented, and with an acute awareness of recent advances in the field, it's indispensable reading for anyone interested in the future.




Mastering Quantum Mechanics


Book Description

A complete overview of quantum mechanics, covering essential concepts and results, theoretical foundations, and applications. This undergraduate textbook offers a comprehensive overview of quantum mechanics, beginning with essential concepts and results, proceeding through the theoretical foundations that provide the field’s conceptual framework, and concluding with the tools and applications students will need for advanced studies and for research. Drawn from lectures created for MIT undergraduates and for the popular MITx online course, “Mastering Quantum Mechanics,” the text presents the material in a modern and approachable manner while still including the traditional topics necessary for a well-rounded understanding of the subject. As the book progresses, the treatment gradually increases in difficulty, matching students’ increasingly sophisticated understanding of the material. • Part 1 covers states and probability amplitudes, the Schrödinger equation, energy eigenstates of particles in potentials, the hydrogen atom, and spin one-half particles • Part 2 covers mathematical tools, the pictures of quantum mechanics and the axioms of quantum mechanics, entanglement and tensor products, angular momentum, and identical particles. • Part 3 introduces tools and techniques that help students master the theoretical concepts with a focus on approximation methods. • 236 exercises and 286 end-of-chapter problems • 248 figures




Quantum Mechanics with Applications to Nanotechnology and Information Science


Book Description

Quantum mechanics transcends and supplants classical mechanics at the atomic and subatomic levels. It provides the underlying framework for many subfields of physics, chemistry and materials science, including condensed matter physics, atomic physics, molecular physics, quantum chemistry, particle physics, and nuclear physics. It is the only way we can understand the structure of materials, from the semiconductors in our computers to the metal in our automobiles. It is also the scaffolding supporting much of nanoscience and nanotechnology. The purpose of this book is to present the fundamentals of quantum theory within a modern perspective, with emphasis on applications to nanoscience and nanotechnology, and information-technology. As the frontiers of science have advanced, the sort of curriculum adequate for students in the sciences and engineering twenty years ago is no longer satisfactory today. Hence, the emphasis on new topics that are not included in older reference texts, such as quantum information theory, decoherence and dissipation, and on applications to nanotechnology, including quantum dots, wires and wells. - This book provides a novel approach to Quantum Mechanics whilst also giving readers the requisite background and training for the scientists and engineers of the 21st Century who need to come to grips with quantum phenomena - The fundamentals of quantum theory are provided within a modern perspective, with emphasis on applications to nanoscience and nanotechnology, and information-technology - Older books on quantum mechanics do not contain the amalgam of ideas, concepts and tools necessary to prepare engineers and scientists to deal with the new facets of quantum mechanics and their application to quantum information science and nanotechnology - As the frontiers of science have advanced, the sort of curriculum adequate for students in the sciences and engineering twenty years ago is no longer satisfactory today - There are many excellent quantum mechanics books available, but none have the emphasis on nanotechnology and quantum information science that this book has




Visual Quantum Mechanics


Book Description

"Visual Quantum Mechanics" uses the computer-generated animations found on the accompanying material on Springer Extras to introduce, motivate, and illustrate the concepts explained in the book. While there are other books on the market that use Mathematica or Maple to teach quantum mechanics, this book differs in that the text describes the mathematical and physical ideas of quantum mechanics in the conventional manner. There is no special emphasis on computational physics or requirement that the reader know a symbolic computation package. Despite the presentation of rather advanced topics, the book requires only calculus, making complicated results more comprehensible via visualization. The material on Springer Extras provides easy access to more than 300 digital movies, animated illustrations, and interactive pictures. This book along with its extra online materials forms a complete introductory course on spinless particles in one and two dimensions.




Quantum Mechanics in Everyday Life


Book Description

Quantum mechanics is the mathematical foundation for chemistry and physics on the microscopic scale. The energies and interactions between atoms and molecules can be described using the mathematics of matrices and quantized angular momentum. The seemingly esoteric mathematical language and quantum behavior of atoms and molecules have directly led to modern technology such as compact fluorescent bulbs, lasers, the global positioning system (GPS) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Quantum Mechanics in Everyday Life provides an introduction to the language of quantum and leads the reader to a deeper understanding of familiar, widely-used technology at the atomic and molecular level.




Interactive Quantum Mechanics


Book Description

Interquanta (IQ), an interactive program on quantum mechanics allows students to do their own quantum physics experiments on the computer, and to study in 3D color graphics such quantities as complex probability amplitude, eigencalues, scattering cross sections, and more. By experiencing many such computer experiments, students gain a unique, "hands-on" experience in quantum physics which is otherwise difficult to achieve. The graphic features include two-and three-dimensional graphics in the form of static frames and motion pictures. Students do no programming, and hence need no previous detailed knowledge of this. The program has a very convenient, self-explanatory user interface based on the Java software technology. The book provides a recapitulation of the basic quantum mechanical formula, a manual to the IQ program, and a complete course with more than 300 tested problems. Fully automatic demonstration sessions are provided as introduction to interactive work. Physics topics covered include free particles, bound states and scattering in various potentials in one and three space dimensions, two-particle systems, properties of special functions of mathematical physics.




Engineering Quantum Mechanics


Book Description

There has been growing interest in the model of semiconductor lasers with non-Markovian relaxation. Introducing senior and graduate students and research scientists to quantum mechanics concepts, which are becoming an essential tool in modern engineering, Engineering Quantum Mechanics develops a non-Markovian model for the optical gain of semiconductor, taking into account the rigorous electronic band-structure and the non-Markovian relaxation using the quantum statistical reduced-density operator formalism. Example programs based on Fortran 77 are provided for band-structures of zinc-blende and wurtzite quantum wells.




The Picture Book of Quantum Mechanics


Book Description

In learning quantum theory, intuitions developed for the classical world fail, and the equations to be solved are sufficiently complex that they require a computer except for the simplest situations. This book represents an attempt to jump the hurdle to an intuitive understanding of wave mechanics by using illustrations to present the time evolution and parameter dependence of wave functions in a wide variety of situations. Most of the illustrations are computer-generated solutions of the Schrödinger equation for one- and three-dimensional systems, with the situations discussed ranging from the simple particle in a box through resonant scattering in one dimension to the hydrogen atom and Regge classification of resonant scattering. Thoroughly revised and expanded to include a discussion of spin and magnetic resonance.




Professor Astro Cat's Atomic Adventure


Book Description

Class is in session, and the subject is physics. Your teacher? Why, he’s the smartest cat in the galaxy! In this brilliant follow up to Professor Astro Cat’s Frontiers of Space, our trusty feline returns to take you on a journey through the incredible world of physics. Learn about energy, power and the building blocks of you, me and the universe in this all new ATOMIC ADVENTURE!