Quantum Mechanics

About this course

Quantum mechanics courses typically require you to learn a lot of high-level math in addition to the science, making it challenging to absorb and apply quantum ideas. Students often take these classes multiple times before they even begin to understand. In this course, we teach quantum mechanics in a representation-independent fashion that focuses on operators. The prerequisite math is lower, and we need to develop less of it. 

This allows us to focus on developing conceptual understanding and on relating quantum ideas to real experiments. We are amidst the second quantum revolution, where we observe and manipulate individual quanta. This has ushered in the new field of quantum information science, with its three pillars of quantum computing, quantum communication and quantum sensing. This course will prepare you best for the quantum sensing side of quantum information science. You will even learn enough quantum mechanics to understand how the laser interferometry gravitational wave observatory works---one of the engineering marvels of humankind. Prerequisites: The three-semester calculus sequence and a math methods course are required. Freshman physics and modern physics are recommended. 

This course is appropriate for those with backgrounds in physics, chemistry, and engineering who are interested in learning quantum mechanics with a focus on applications to quantum sensing.